Conflicts of Interest
by MadamHydra
Summary: The WEAPONS have reappeared. Cloud and his friends discover that his ties to both his old friend Zack and his arch-nemesis Sephiroth are deeper and stronger than he could ever imagine. ABANDONED - rewritten as Conflicts of Interest Redux
1. COI Part 1

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 02/10/99 

Comments & Criticism welcomed and appreciated. 

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
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PART 1: DREAD HARBINGERS  
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Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

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Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

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Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous effects 

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Cid found Yuffie huddled in the shelter of the Highwind II's deckhouse, where she sat looking slightly green-faced as usual. Cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, he walked up behind her and said cheerfully, "I thought you'd be over all this stupid motion sickness stuff by now. Don't you know that it's all in your mind?" Cid spoke with the blithe confidence of a man who had never experienced any sort of motion sickness in his life. 

She glared at him. "Damn you, old man! I'm NOT imagining all this! What do you think I am, some kind of masochist!? Don't you think that if I could just think it all away, I would?" She closed her eyes and took a few deep gulps of air. 

"Hell, you look like a beached fish." 

"Screw you, Cid. You should thank Red that I'm not spewing all over your favorite boots. That herbal concoction he gave me actually works... sort of." 

"Hmph. Did you help yourself to some of his materia while you were visiting?" 

"I don't ALWAYS steal from you guys!" Yuffie was the very picture of offended dignity. 

"No, but you certainly try. Well, I'm keeping a close eye on my stuff so don't even think...." Cid froze, then lunged for the railing so suddenly that Yuffie thought that he was actually trying to jump overboard. 

"Hey!" 

The cigarette butt fell from Cid's gaping mouth as he stared directly below the Highwind. 

Yuffie started to look uneasy. "Yo, Cid!" 

He didn't respond. 

"What's goin' on!?" Yuffie was hopping up and down with impatience. Cid mutely pointed down. The young ninja sternly told her stomach to behave and peer cautiously over the railing. A look of stunned disbelief appeared on her face just before she hastily backed away from the rail. 

"That...that CAN'T be a... a WEAPON!?" 

Cid stared at the immense, dark shape swimming along the surface of the water. He muttered, "What the hell do you think it is, then? A bloody whale?" 

--------------------------- 

Somewhere between the Eastern and Western Continents, a Shinra submarine filled with terrified crewmen hastily scooted out of the path of the enormous green shape that slowly cruised just above the sea floor. 

--------------------------- 

The Shinra Building used to be over seventy stories, towering over everything in sight and dominating Midgar just as the Shinra Corporation dominated the world. But after Meteor demolished the upper twenty floors or so, the building now had a much humbler appearance, much like the corporation itself did. 

In the new President's office on the 42th floor, now the top floor of the Shinra building, Reeve struggled to ignore a pounding headache as he tried to work up a feasible energy budget for the city. It was a thankless task. All the Mako generators in the city were non-operational and the old sources of power were nowhere as efficient. Just as he had figured out a complicated three-way shuffle to satisfy the energy needs of four different sectors, his intercom buzzed. He abruptly lost his train of thought. 

"What is it now? I told you I didn't want to be disturbed!" 

His assistant said, "Sir, there's an important message from Junon." 

"Junon? All right, all right!" 

Both the annoyance and the color slowly drained out of Reeve's face as he listened to the report from the Junon Commander. 

"Please tell you you're joking." 

"Sir, I do not joke," the Commander replied primly. 

Reeve had been pleasantly surprised and immensely relieved when Heidegger's subordinates, who controlled most of the military resources of Shinra, had chosen to support him instead of Scarlet. While she had managed to stay on good terms with Heidegger himself, it seemed that Scarlet hadn't been nearly as careful with his subordinates. She had apparently stepped on a few too many toes. Her blatant ambition had not played well, either, especially with the rumors flying around about her possible involvement in Heidigger's sudden disappearance. 

Reeve said, "Are you POSITIVE?" 

"Yes, sir. Transmitting the videotape." 

Reeve shivered as an all too familiar green form slowly drifted into view, then the picture skewed wildly as the submarine scrambled out of the monster's way. 

"All right, try to keep an eye on it but for god's sake, don't do anything to provoke it!" 

The Commander visibly suppressed an urge to make an impertinent remark -- something on the lines of 'Do you think I'm stupid?' -- but military discipline prevailed. He merely saluted and signed off. 

Reeve closed his eyes. Ten months. Ten measly months of peace and quiet after the Planet had nearly been obliterated by Meteor. Surely humanity deserve a break from the threat of catastrophe and utter destruction? A chance to regroup and rebuild? 

Apparently not.... 

He slouched down in his posh chair. Why had the Emerald WEAPON reappeared? After all, the WEAPONs' sole purpose was to eliminate threats to the Planet's well-being -- critical threats like Jenova. But all four WEAPONs had been destroyed. And with Jenova itself gone, why would the Planet bother resurrecting the WEAPONs? 

Reeve suddenly grimaced. Of course there could be some deadly planetary threat that he simply didn't know about. They had all assumed that Jenova was gone, but there was no real proof. And who really knew what Jenova was capable of? The blasted thing was a space alien, after all. It was just possible that Jenova could still exist -- and still pose a threat deadly enough to warrant the rebuilding of the WEAPONs. 

There was no real way to know for certain. Reeve knew of only one person who might have known what the Planet 'thought'.... 

And Aeris was dead. 

He uttered a wistful sigh as his fingers danced across his keyboard. "Let's see what we got. I know we have some data on the WEAPONs. Scarlet must have used it in developing the Sister Ray. And I can't forget those videos we found up in Ifalna's house at Icicle Inn." He made a mental note to have someone retrieve them. 

His search kicked up a few files. Worse than he had hoped but better than he expected. Fortunately, most of the Shinra database had survived Meteor and the demolition of the Shinra Building intact. 

(Thank goodness for all those tedious backup procedures.) 

Unfortunately, Reeve suspected that much of the real data on the WEAPONs never made it into the official Shinra network in the first place. Knowing Scarlet, she probably kept the most important information for herself. Now that she was in hiding, there were virtually no chance of getting a hold of that data -- for free. 

He had no desire to make any deals with Scarlet. But depending on how the WEAPON situation developed, he might have no choice. 

--------------------------- 

He stood at the bottom of the Northern Crater. Sephiroth had finally been defeated. Not just once, but twice. Now all they could do was wait and hope that Holy could save the Planet from Meteor. His friends headed for the surface and he turned to follow them. 

Then he felt the mocking laughter in his head. 

Sephiroth was still alive, somewhere in that pit. 

He suddenly felt himself being torn away and pulled downward as Tifa's cries faded far behind. At the end of his strange, twisting journey, he looked down to see Sephiroth in his human form, blade in hand... waiting for him. 

Cloud narrowed his eyes. In his mind, there was no hatred or fear -- only steely determination and purpose. He had to finish it, no matter what the cost. That was all. 

They stared at each other across their swords, then he could concentrate on nothing else except launching the most lethal and relentless series of blows he was capable of. He couldn't afford to hold anything back -- not with an opponent of Sephiroth's skill. 

He refused to even think about how or why he might have the slightest impulse to hold back at all. 

As he leapt into the air for the final, deadly slash, Sephiroth looked up at him. Green Mako eyes locked gazes with blue Mako eyes for a single endless moment. 

Something stirred in the back of Cloud's mind -- a sense of impending victory... but a victory that would come at a heavy price. 

// Do it. // 

Cloud slammed the blow home, then leapt back. He watched Sephiroth stagger... watched him struggle to lift the Masamune... and watched as Sephiroth's body failed him. 

As brillant red blood trickled down Sephiroth's pale face, Cloud's nemesis slowly lifted his head. Ice green eyes widened in stunned disbelief as he stared at Cloud. Suddenly, Sephiroth smiled ever so slightly and whispered a single, inaudible word... just before his broken body exploded in a flare of light. 

// Seph.... // 

--------------------------- 

A badly disoriented Cloud awoke with a start. It took him a minute or so to remember where he was and to track down the persistent buzz. He finally located his phone and mumbled, "Cloud here." 

"Finally! Where the hell have you been?" 

"I was...sleeping. What's wrong?" 

Reeve said, "Bad news. The Emerald WEAPON is back." 

"What!? Are you sure?" 

"I just got a message from Junon Sub base. The green monster was seen happily puttering around the bottom of the ocean. And don't remind me that we destroyed it. I know that. I was there, remember?" 

"Damn it," Cloud muttered. 

At that moment, Cloud's phone buzzed again. Frowning slightly, he answered, connecting the caller to Reeve at the same time. 

They both heard Cid growl, "Guess what Yuffie and I just saw, guys." He didn't bother waiting for their answer. "A goddamn WEAPON!" 

Yuffie loudly yelled in the background, "And it's no mistake! We got pictures!" 

Cid yelled back at Yuffie, "Keep it down, girl!" before returning to his conversation with Cloud and Reeve. "We were cruising in the Highwind II near Wutai when we saw a huge, dark blue shape moving along the surface of the water." 

"Great. Just great." Reeve's headache started pounded even fiercely. 

The pilot said suspiciously, "You don't seem that surprised. What gives?" 

"I just got a message and some video footage from Junon Sub base. Now it's your turn. Guess what's swimming around at the bottom of the ocean. One hint. It's green." Clutching the phone in one hand, Reeve began to rummage through his desk for that elusive bottle of pain-killers. 

"Aw, man. Don't tell me...." 

"That's right." 

There was a thunking noise from Cid's end. 

"What's that, Cid?" Cloud asked. 

"Oh, that just Yuffie passing out. You guys call the others?" 

"I haven't had the chance." Reeve finally located the bottle, dumped out a tablet, then decided to double the dose. 

Cloud said, "All right. Reeve, could you contact the others?" He paused thoughtfully. "Even if the WEAPONs aren't actually attacking, they're moving around. That doesn't sound good." 

Between pills, Reeve muttered, "I find the mere fact that they've been reconstructed plenty disturbing. And to think that they might be hunting for something...." 

Cid quietly said, "You guys think this has something to do with Jenova." 

Cloud began to pace in his bedroom. "Well, it's an obvious sort of conclusion. Besides, if it isn't Jenova, that means there's a major threat to this Planet that we know nothing about. Personally, I don't know which option is more frightening." 

"Gotcha." Cid was silent for a moment, then said, "If the green one's Emerald, I guess the blue one is...." 

"Probably Sapphire." 

"That leaves Ruby and Diamond unaccounted for...." 

Reeve said, "....so far. I'm ordering a chopper to take a look around the Gold Saucer area to see if the Ruby WEAPON's shown up in its old haunts. But even if the desert's clean, Ruby could still be lurking somewhere else. And I don't have a way to see if Diamond's back. The Shinra subs can't get past the shallows up north." 

"We'll worry about that later." 

Cid said, "Cloud, you're at Fort Condor, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"You want me to pick you up?" 

"I don't think you need to do that. It'll only take me a couple of hours to get to Midgar by chocobo. It's probably better if you picked up Tifa and Red at Kalm. Tifa's got her chocobo but you know how Red feels about riding." 

They all chuckled. On more than one occasion, they had been forced to travel by chocobo to otherwise inaccessible locations. The sight of Red awkwardly perched bird-back had been absolutely hilarious and a sight to remember. For his part, Red utterly failed to see the humor of it. 

"And if Vincent's interested, you'll probably need to give him a ride, too." 

Cid said, "Right. Later, guys," and hung up. 

Before Reeve could do the same, Cloud said, "I just remembered. Remember those videotapes at Icicle Inn? The ones with Dr. Gast and Aeris' mother? She said something about the WEAPONs. What ever happened to those tapes?" 

Reeve said, "Got you covered. I've already sent some guys up north to fetch them and any papers that might still be lying around. Hojo's men were pretty sloppy when they cleaned out the place the first time around." 

"In that case, I'll be at Midgar as soon as I can." 

"All right, then. I'll keep hunting for information on this end." 

Cloud disconnected and stared blankly at the phone as his thoughts returned to his dream. It lingered, like a strange aftertaste in the mouth. 

Why dream about Sephiroth now? 

------------------------------------ 

Yuffie muttered, "Fort Condor? How come he isn't hanging out with Tifa at Kalm?" 

"That's none of your business, Yuffie. Give the guy some time." Cid growled. 

"Time! Time! That's right, you guys always stick together and protect each other's butts while us girls are left hanging in the wind. How about some commitment here?" 

"You're a fine one to talk, you pip-squeak. What the hell do you know about relationships anyway, kiddo?" 

"Enough to know that you and Shera...." 

"You leave Shera outta this, you...." Cid lunged for the ninja girl. Yuffie gave him an impudent grin as she jumped down the stairs and disappeared into the depths of the Highwind. 

Cid stomped around in frustration for a moment, then grinned evilly. He marched to the bridge and hit the ship-wide intercom. 

"Yuffie, better hang on to your stomach. We've got places to go, things to do! The ride's liable to get a bit... rough." 

An unmistakable moan drifted back through the intercom. 

"And if you mess up my ship, you're cleaning it up!" 

"Urkkk...." 

------------------------------------ 

In North Corel, Marlene had just left the house to play when Barret's phone buzzed. He fumbled for the PHS and muttered, "Yeah?" 

"Barret, I've got some bad news." 

"Reeve, I've been on my feet for the last 30 hours and you're ruining my nap. So spit it out." 

There was a slight pause before Reeve said, "The WEAPONs are back." 

"What the hell!?" Barret rolled over and flopped back down on his bed. 

"To be precise, Cid spotted what looks to be the Sapphire WEAPON near Wutai. A Shinra sub nearly ran into the Emerald WEAPON near that weird undersea crater." 

"That can't be! They were all blown to hell and gone!" 

"I know, but they're back AGAIN." 

"Shit! All right, then. Do you guys need me right now? I'm supposed   
to reopen one of the old coal mines around Corel tomorrow. But...," Barret said. 

"No, not if you're busy. With all the Mako reactors shut down, everyone's in a real crunch energy-wise. Getting those mines working again is a top priority. Besides, there's nothing you can really do here in Midgar at the moment. The WEAPONs are moving around but haven't really done anything to panic about...yet. We'll keep you updated. On your feet for thirty hours? Get some rest!" 

Barret disconnected and gave the phone a morose stare. Something told him that Reeve would be calling back soon. 

It probably won't be good news. 

------------------------------------ 

As he waited for his friends to arrive, Reeve made one last phone call. 

A lazy voice drawled, "Yo." 

"Reno, do you remember that conversation we had a while back?" 

"Yeah, about eventually having some work for us." 

"Well, are you interested?" 

Reno chuckled, "Sure, why not? Luckily for you, we happen to be free at the moment. So what sort of dirty work you want done?" 

Reeve snorted. "Please! It's not that sort of job!" 

"Okay, okay! No need to go spastic. So, what do you want us to do?" 

"I want you to escort a group of scientists and techs out to Shinra Mansion at Nibelheim. And I want you to keep an eye on them while they strip every book, every record, and every piece of Hojo's equipment out of that place." 

Elena looked up in surprise at the horrified look on Reno's face. 

"Oh crap! You want us to baby-sit a bunch of geeks!? Man, this WILL cost you!" Reno's voice took on a definite whine. "Come on, Reeve. Please tell me you're joking." 

In a quiet voice, Reeve replied, "I'm deadly serious, Reno. I want a disinterested party to make sure that none of these guys start getting weird ideas. The last thing I need is some half-wit scientist getting delusions of grandeur. There's a great deal of information related to Jenova, Sephiroth, and Hojo's other classified projects in the Mansion. Security's practically nonexistent. Do you get my drift?" 

Reno grimaced. "Yeah. How come Shinra didn't move all that stuff already?" 

"I don't know. As scientific research, it would have been Hojo's responsibility. But for a scientist, he could be incredibly absentminded and sloppy." 

The Turk exhaled slowly. "All right. We'll do it. When do you want to start?" 

"As soon as possible." 

"Reeve, what's the big rush?" 

There was a long pause, then the Shinra executive said, "I've been planning to do something like this for a long time. Unfortunately, something nasty has suddenly come up. I need every scrap of Hojo's information I can get my hands on and I need it NOW. Although...." 

"Although...." 

"I'm afraid that we're already too late." 

"Get your technogeeks together. We'll be there within the hour." 

After Reeve hung up, Reno looked at Elena and Rude. The two Turks had been playing a lackadaisical game of poker, but now both looked very curious. She asked, "What's up? You said something about baby-sitting?" 

"Yeah. Reeve's got an urgent job for us." 

"And...." 

Reno smiled sourly. "We get to pick up Hojo's garbage." 

"Oh, yuck." 

"Come on, guys. Time's a wastin'" 

------------------------------------ 

Tifa frowned thoughtfully at the rain drenched scenery surrounding Kalm. Actually, she didn't have too much to complain about. After Meteor had been destroyed and all the immediate chaos had settled down, both she and Cloud had taken up residence in Kalm Town -- unfortunately, not with each other. That didn't mean that they had gone their separate ways. Far from it. They frequently traveled together either to visit friends or to hunt down the occasional troublesome monster. Kalm was really more a base of operations than a home. 

Despite the constant travel and activity, Cloud actually seemed content. She had been pleasantly surprised at the change in him after Sephiroth's destruction. Tifa had never quite realized just how oppressive the bastard's mere existence had been to Cloud. But with that dark, haunting presence gone, he had lost much of the edgy broodiness that had bothered her so much during their first meeting in Midgar, when she had found him sitting outside the train station. For the first time in years, Cloud had fully emerged from Sephiroth's shadow and Tifa liked what she saw. 

But it also puzzled her a great deal. 

Cloud had been right. Her experiences in the Lifestream made her realize that she had never really known him, never really played with him, never really spoken to him.... Their meeting at the water tower just before his departure for Midgar had been her first and only chance to really speak to him one-on-one. Although she had been nice enough to him -- that was to say, not actively cruel -- she had basically ignored him. He had simply been the kid on the fringes, alone and unwanted. The kid that the adults always yelled at. The kid that the other kids always picked on. 

So when had he changed from a loner to a leader? Where had Cloud acquired that quiet confidence and assertiveness? Where did he get the inner strength to overcome Sephiroth's brutal domination and manipulation? Somehow, she couldn't quite see him developing up those abilities while working for Shinra. They were hardly the sort of traits that Shinra would want to encourage, at least in their regular troops. He freely admitted that he had been nothing more than a common trooper -- in his own words, just another grunt in the field. It wasn't as if he had been some hotshot officer on the fast track to the top. 

What was even more amazing was her recent realization that much of his transformation had occurred right before her very eyes. She could still remember the sullen, mercenary young man she had met at the train station just under a year ago -- a man who cared about money first and everything else a distant second. 

One year.... It felt like a lifetime. 

But only a few short weeks later, with Meteor hovering overhead and Sephiroth lurking beneath their feet at the Northern Crater, Cloud had become the trusted leader of their odd little group -- the man whose encouragement and leadership successfully guided them into and out of battle with the most evil and powerful being on the Planet. 

What had happened in those seven years since their secret meeting at the water tower? She was intensely curious but was equally reluctant to pry. What few details he let slip hinted at dark and terrible things. With the shaky state of his memory, it was probably better to let sleeping dogs lie. Cloud had managed to reach a tenuous peace with himself. Destroying that fragile inner peace was the last thing she wanted to do. 

Tifa sighed. Things were okay but life was far from perfect. Perhaps the most important problem was that her relationship with Cloud seemed stalled at the 'close platonic friend' stage. And it wasn't Cloud's fault. Well, not exactly his fault. 

There were times where she would catch him staring out into the distance with a wistful look on his face. It was a look of sadness, regret, loneliness.... It wasn't too hard to figure what -- or rather who -- he was thinking about. 

Aeris. 

When the Lifestream had emerged to save the Planet from Meteor, she had thought that Cloud had reconciled himself to Aeris' fate. But now it appeared that he still grieved deeply for the flower girl. 

It wasn't that she hated Aeris. Far from it. She had developed a strong liking and respect for the girl during their brief time together. Tifa had mourned her cruel death at Sephiroth's hands as much as the others. But she couldn't deny that she resented Aeris at times, just as she also resented that instant, mysterious bond that the flower girl had with Cloud. It was a bond that apparently still existed for him. 

Tifa loved Cloud. And she was pretty sure that he cared about her. However, Cloud's lingering feelings for Aeris made it impossible for her to discuss her true feelings with him. 

Maybe she was just being greedy, but in the contest for Cloud's heart, she didn't want to be the winner by default, simply because she was the one still alive. Tifa hated being second-best. 

"The Highwind's here." She started as Red XIII's low rumble interrupted her thoughts. 

Climbing aboard, Tifa was pleasantly surprised to find Vincent already on board. He acknowledged her and Red's presence with a slight nod, then retired to his usual secluded spot toward the back of the bridge. Yuffie had actually staggered out of the Highwind's hold to greet her. As the ninja girl made her appearance, Cid took a deep puff on his smoke and cheerfully said, "Exciting ride, hm? I always wanted to see how the Highwind II would handle without the motion dampers on." 

Yuffie gave him a malevolent stare and snarled, "I'll get you for this, Cid!" With those words, she fled the bridge. 

As usual, Vincent said nothing about that exchange. However, he did raise his eyebrows slightly. Cid shrugged carelessly and put on an innocent look that fooled no one as he headed the Highwind toward Midgar. 

--------------------------- 

As he rode north, Cloud pondered the fairly comfortable life he had managed to make for himself -- and the two things that disturbed that new life. 

The first was the quiet, subdued sensation of sorrow and loss that had haunted him ever since the destruction of Meteor. It wasn't anything like the fierce, heart-wrenching grief he had felt as he helplessly watched Aeris die at Sephiroth's hands. Instead, it was like a mild, persistent ache in his soul -- a wound that lingered and would never quite heal properly. 

It wasn't a crippling sort of pain. It could be endured. And he would endure it. No more running away. No more denials of an unpleasant reality. He had lost himself inside an illusionary world of lies and fantasies once before -- and look how Sephiroth had used that weakness to break him. 

Never again. 

Aeris had returned to the Planet. He should be glad. She had reached her Promised Land, a place where no one could frighten or hurt her. He would simply have to accept that she was forever lost to him. 

But it was the dreams that bothered Cloud most of all -- dreams that came with increasing frequency. Considering the types of experiences he'd been through in the last several years, he would have expected plenty of nightmares. But most of his dreams were nothing of the kind. 

His conscious mind could not -- or would not -- recall any specific details. But Cloud could clearly remember the feelings and emotions linked to those dreams -- feelings of laughter, of camaraderie, of friendship and trust.... 

They were GOOD dreams, almost to the point of seductiveness. Cloud found that deeply troubling. The dreams were the only time he felt truly whole. He hungered after that feeling so badly. But he had learned to fear what he desired. So many times before, he either lost what he had desired most or the desirable thing had turned out to be a bait for a trap. 

And there was another aspect about the dreams that bothered him. By their very nature, they hinted at a terrible loss. 

There had been someone that he had known. Someone he had been very close to. Someone who almost certainly had been his very best friend.... 

....and someone he had utterly forgotten. 

----------------------------------- 

An hour later, Cloud glared out from under his rainhood and swore. This was utterly ridiculous. He and his friends had crisscrossed the world untold number of times in their quest to save the Planet from Sephiroth. They had hacked their way through trackless jungle, crossed burning deserts, sailed over unmapped oceans, hiked into the very bowels of the earth.... 

So how the hell did he manage to get lost riding from Fort Condor to Midgar? On a gold chocobo, no less. He prayed that Cid won't find out, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it. 

"Where on earth am I now!?" he shouted at no one in particular. 

Nikki, his gold chocobo, stamped its foot in annoyance, as if to deny any involvement in their current predicament. 

Cloud grinned and stroked the chocobo's neck. "Sorry, didn't mean to imply that it was your fault." 

He and his mount soon found themselves on a rocky outcrop. To his relief, he saw the great city of Midgar spread out below him. 

(Well, better late than never.) 

Dismounting, he stepped closer to the edge to get a better view of the city. 

(Weird. Without the Mako reactors running, Midgar looks a lot dimmer than it did back then....) 

[ flash ] 

Cloud looked around in confusion before slowly looking down at his hands. For some strange reason, he had been expecting -- and dreading -- the sight of blood. But there was nothing on his hands except plain, ordinary rainwater. 

He shivered. He had to get away from here. Something deep inside was screaming that there was something horribly wrong with this place. He took a quick step toward his chocobo and heard a loud crack under his feet. Startled, Cloud glanced down. 

At first, he thought that it was just a branch, then he abruptly realized that he stepped on a bone. A human bone. He quickly located found the rest of the body nearby. The scraps of flesh on the bones and the strands of black hair still clinging to the skull told him that the corpse had probably been lying there for a year, maybe less. 

Curiosity made him take a closer look. Many of the bones were broken and not by accident. The breaks were far too clean. The skull told a similar tale. Apparently not content with practically cleaving the person's head in half -- probably with a sword or an ax -- someone had literally hacked the poor bastard apart. 

....but the eyes just... wouldn't... stop... staring... at him.... 

/ Get out of my head! / 

The skull slipped from Cloud's suddenly numb fingers as an agonizing pain exploded in his brain. He staggered to his feet, then the rain-softened soil suddenly gave away. He toppled off the steep outcrop, bounced once, and landed heavily on a tiny ledge fifty feet below. 

----------------------------------- 

In Reeve's office, Cid grumbled, "Where the hell's Cloud? A couple of hours, he says. If I'd had any idea it was going to take him this long...." 

Tifa paced anxiously. "It doesn't take 'this long' to get here from Fort Condor." 

Reeve said mildly, "Maybe the weather's the problem?" 

Cid flung himself down in a comfortable chair. "Come on! Those gold chocobos can run across the bleedin' ocean! You think a little rain and mud's going to bother them?" 

Tifa pulled out her phone and tried calling Cloud. Tension mounted as the phone rang and rang. No answer. Finally, there was a click on the other end. 

"Cloud, where on earth are you!?" Tifa shouted. 

At first there was no answer, then Tifa heard a familiar warble. She stared at the phone in shock. 

"Nikki?" 

Cid jumped up and yelled, "Who the hell's Nikki?" 

Tifa made a quick, shushing gesture and distractedly muttered, "Cloud's chocobo. Cloud!? Cloud!" 

There was another fretful warble, followed by a distressed cooing sound... then they heard a very faint groan. 

"Oh god! Something's happened to him! Cid...." 

"Come on, we can track him from the Highwind." He, Tifa, and the others stormed out of Reeve's office. By the time they had reboarded the Highwind, Cait Sith was waiting for them on the bridge, anxiously rocking back and forth. 

----------------------------------- 

"The signal's coming from around here. The kid can't be too far away," Cid muttered. 

Tifa and the others anxiously peered through the gathering darkness and mist. The temperature was dropping quickly and the rain was getting heavier. 

"If we don't find him soon, he could die of exposure." Tifa paced anxiously from one side of the Highwind to the other. 

Yuffie tried her best to be reassuring. "Cloud's tough. He won't croak just because of a little bad weather, Tifa." 

Tifa smiled weakly but the unspoken thought running though everyone's head was, (But what if he's badly hurt....?). 

It was Vincent, as usual, who first sighted their quarry. 

"Down there, on the ledge." 

Perched on a tiny ledge fifty feet or so below a rocky outcrop was a golden chocobo who was huddled protectively over a still human body. There was a sheer drop of well over a hundred feet on the other side of the ledge. 

Tifa whispered, "If he moves...." 

Cid pounded her lightly on the shoulder. "Quit thinking about it and let's go get him!" 

Unable to land the Highwind in the rocky terrain, everyone went over the side on a rope ladder. Once down on the outcrop, Cid, Tifa, and several crewmembers held a rope as Vincent rappelled down the cliff. It wasn't an easy task. The mud made footing uncertain while the constant rain made the cliff dangerously unstable, with bits of it crumbling off without warning. The chocobo objected loudly as stones and dirt rained down on its head and back in spite of Vincent's best efforts to be careful during his climb. 

Fortunately, getting down the cliff was the hardest part of the rescue. Once on the ledge, Vincent simply tossed Cloud on Nikki's back and rode the gold chocobo back up to the top. 

They quickly hauled Cloud onboard the Highwind and into the sickbay. After Tifa finished healing him with her materia, Cid offered Tifa a hot cup of coffee and asked, "How's he doing?" 

"He had a few cracked ribs, some nasty cuts and bruises. The Full Cure materia's taken care of any physical injuries that he's got. But he's still out cold." 

"Must have taken a bad knock on the head going down the cliff." 

"That's why I think we should hurry back to Midgar. I want a doctor to take a look at him, just in case." 

"We're already underway. Tifa, could you tell me whether all his injuries came from the fall?" 

For a moment, she didn't quite understand the question, then she said, "You don't think it was just an accident? You think that he might have been attacked or shoved off the cliff?" 

"Come on. The kid's damn quick on his feet. Even with all that mud and junk, it's hard to imagine him just falling off without someone -- or something -- helping him along." 

She shook her head. "Stupid.... I should have thought about that myself. But no, I didn't find anything unusual." She paused a moment. "If he was attacked, it must have happened so fast that he didn't have a chance to draw his weapon. It's right there in its sheath." She pointed at the Ultima Weapon, lying on a nearby table. 

"Hmph." 

Making his way back to the Highwind's bridge, Cid stopped to talk to Vincent. "I saw you looking around at the ground back there. Find anything?" 

"No suspicious tracks. But it could have been an aerial creature." 

"So did you find anything at all?" 

"A corpse." 

Cid nearly choked on his coffee. "Why didn't you say...." 

Vincent shrugged. "It'd been there for at least a year, maybe more." 

"Oh well, in that case...." Cid snorted and shoved Vincent's finding to the back of his mind. He had more important things to worry about. 

----------------------------------- 

While the doctor at Mideel had been calm and reassuring, Dr. Stephen was smug, arrogant, and incredibly irritating. However, Tifa couldn't argue with the man's medical expertise. 

"Interesting." He prodded Cloud's stomach. "Marvelous muscle tone, but typical of SOLDIER personnel. And the eyes.... hmmm.... yes...." 

Tifa cleared her throat and said pointedly, "Doctor, you're supposed to checking out his injuries. Quit treating him like he was a bird at a chocobo sale! He's your PATIENT!" 

He snorted, "I am well aware of that. However, as I've just noted, he's in superb physical shape. He only has a mild concussion -- it's nothing a little rest won't take care of." 

Tifa sighed with relief. The doctor continued, "You, however, are another story. I refuse to be responsible for your condition if you continue to stand around in those wet, ridiculously skimpy clothes." 

She flushed angrily. "'Ridiculously skimpy....' Just where do you get off telling me...!" 

Standing in the doorway, Cait Sith said, "He's right." 

When Tifa glared furiously at it, the Moogle took a wary bounce backward as the cat hastily elaborated. "I wasn't talking about your clothes! I mean, you're exhausted, wet, and dirty. Why don't you grab a quick shower and change? It'll only take a few minutes and he's not going anywhere in his present condition. You're not going to do him any good if you catch pneumonia." 

Tifa looked a bit reluctant, then suddenly sneezed twice. She sniffled and said, "Actually, that's starting to sound like a really good idea. I'll think I'll do that." She turned to Dr. Stephen and gave him a warning stare. "I'll be right back." 

Pointing at Cait Sith, the doctor said, "That THING's perfectly correct. Your friend's not going anywhere at the moment. Might as well take your time." 

Tifa sniffled again and stalked out of the infirmary with Cait Sith bouncing at her heels. 

----------------------------------- 

Wavering in and out of consciousness, Cloud slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on an examination table.... 

/ NO! / 

...and someone dressed in a white labcoat was standing over him.... 

/ NO! / 

A smug, nasal voice cheerfully said, "As I live and breath. It's 'Code C' from the Nibelheim project! Dr. Roissy will be thrilled to find out that you're still alive and kicking." There was a nerve-grating chuckle accompanied by a sharp prod in his ribs. "You know, she was absolutely devastated when she heard that you and the other guy were killed after your escape." 

/ Oh, god... not that voice..../ 

Fear and loathing churned his stomach. That goddamn voice was the stuff of nightmares. Hearing it always signaled another 'session'... or worse. More 'treatments'.... More pain.... He was drowning in that pain.... 

"Now that we're alone, let's take a quick look at you." 

And then the labcoated figure touched him with those cold, clammy hands of his.... 

/ Not this time, you pig! / 

A low, terrifying snarl of rage filled the room as Cloud suddenly grabbed the startled doctor by the throat and heaved him into a wall. Cloud slid off the examination table with predatory ease, then stalked toward the stunned scientist lying on the floor. 

With a vicious little purr in his voice, he said, "Well, this time I'm not tied up, strapped down, or doped to the gills. Not quite so easy to handle now, am I, my man?" 

Dr. Stephen scuttled backward. "NO! Stay away! Don't touch me!" 

A hot, feral glitter burned in Cloud's Mako eyes as he stared down at his old tormentor-now-victim. "Why should I listen to you? You never listened to me. No matter how much I begged. No matter how much it hurt." 

"Don't take it out on me! I was just following Hojo's orders!" 

Cloud snarled, "But you enjoyed it, didn't you? You and your damned hands always poking and prying... sticking them where they damn well didn't belong! Treating me like a fucking piece of meat...." 

"Come on! It was nothing personal. It was my job to do regular examinations of you and the 'Z' guy... what's his name... oh yeah! That SOLDIER fellow, Zack." 

Cloud pounced on the quivering scientist and grabbed his neck. Viciously shaking his victim back and forth, he hissed, "You remember HIS name, but you can't remember MINE!? How come you were always hurting ME and not HIM!?" 

In a distinctly nasal whine, Dr. Stephen said, "You can't blame me for that! Of course he withstood the treatments better than you! After all, Zack was a SOLDIER, first class, not to mention Sephiroth's right-hand man and protege. A guy's got to be exceptional to be someone like that! While you....! Hey, I saw the personnel files! It's not MY fault that you were too weak to handle the same sort of treatments. But what do you expect from just a nobody from a hick town...." 

Cloud suddenly dumped the terrified scientist on the floor and grabbed at his head as those last few words echoed loudly in his brain. 

/ Too weak.... nobody.... Just a nobody.... / 

// Leave him alone! He's a human being, damn it! // 

/ No one cares about me..../ 

// Hang in there. // 

/ I'm losing myself.... / 

// I won't leave you alone. // 

/ Get out of my head! / 

// We're friends, right? // 

/ Tifa.... / 

// Hope the girl's okay.... // 

/ I'm standing right in front of you.... / 

// Why are you hiding from her? // 

/ Why can't you see who I am? / 

// Don't you want her to recognize you? // 

/ Of course she doesn't notice me.   


/ Teasing little bitch....   


/ She's damn too busy flirting with Zack....  


/ ....and Sephiroth.... / 

// Seph.... // 

/ It's all his fault. / 

// It's all my fault. // 

/ He destroyed my life. / 

// I could have tried harder. // 

/ Zack.... 

/ Everybody likes Zack.   


/ Everybody respects Zack.   


/ Everybody trusts Zack.   


/ I have nothing.   


/ And Zack's got it all.   


/ But a few good whacks will soon take care of THAT. / 

// ....!? // 

/ Nothing to say now, Mr. hotshot SOLDIER? / 

// .... // 

/ Stop it! Stop looking at me! / 

// .... // 

/ Get out of my head! / 

// Wish I could.... // 

/ What... what have I done? / 

// Don't be so hard on yourself. // 

/ I didn't mean to.... / 

// It wasn't really YOU. // 

/ Oh god, I'm sorry.... / 

// I'm sorry I couldn't save you.... // 

/ You saved my life. / 

// ....from the darkness eating you inside. // 

/ Why can't I be strong like you? / 

// Strength isn't the answer for everything.//  


// It sometimes really... hurts... to be strong. // 

/ I'm just a murderer.... / 

// I'm a murderer....// 

/ I killed my only friend..../ 

// I killed my best friend.... // 

/ ....because he had everything I desired.... / 

// ....because he became a soulless monster.... // 

/ ....because he was everything I wanted to be. / 

// ....because he was going to destroy the world. // 

/ I must be crazy. / 

// He was insane. // 

/ But that's no excuse for what I've done. / 

// But that's no excuse for what I've done. // 

/ I didn't HAVE to do it. / 

// I HAD to do it. // 

/ It was the wrong thing to do. / 

// It was the right thing to do. // 

/ And that only makes it worse. / 

// But that doesn't make it any better. // 

/ I want to be like you. / 

// Just be yourself. // 

/ ....want... to... be... you.... / 

Taking advantage of his attacker's distraction, the doctor hastily scurried out of the room as Cloud sagged to his knees. He stayed that way for several moments before slowly struggling back to his feet. Grabbing the examination table for support, he stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. 

"How did I get here? Oww...!" He winced as he moved his head too suddenly. 

Just then Tifa walked into the room, dry and clean after her shower. When she saw Cloud conscious and standing, she ran toward him and grabbed him with a cry of relief. 

"You're awake! Are you all right? You had me really worried there! Here, sit down before you fall over. Where on earth did that doctor run off to? Damn it!" 

She helped Cloud into a nearby chair, then knelt beside him. 

"Cloud, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I... think so. Except for this headache." 

"Do you remember what happened to you?" 

Cloud frowned slightly and rubbed his forehead. "What happened? All I can remember is... hell, falling off that damned outcrop. God, how totally stupid of me." He grimaced. 

"That's it? You just... tripped and fell off a cliff?" Tifa sputtered in disbelief. 

"No, that wasn't exactly it. I got off Nikki to take a quick look around. The next thing I know, the ground collapses under my feet. That's about it." He gave Tifa a curious look. "How did you guys find me?" 

"We managed to track you there using the signal from your phone. How are you feeling? Everyone else is in Reeve's office but we can put off our meeting until you're feeling better...." 

"No, no. I don't want to do that. I'm fine." 

"Are you sure? Maybe I should go find that stupid doctor and let him take another look at you." 

Cloud hastily shook his head, then winced at the dull throb of pain. "No, don't. Doctors give me the creeps." 

Tifa's expression softened. Considering Cloud's experiences with Hojo, it was only natural that he had developed a strong aversion to doctors and scientists in general. 

"All right. I'm sure that the guys will be thrilled to see that you're okay." 

Cloud give her a wry grin. "They probably want to poke fun at me for tripping over my own feet." 

But as they were walking out of the infirmary, Dr. Stephen suddenly popped out from one of the side offices. He nervously asked Tifa, "Is he... is he gone? God, I thought he was about to... EEK!" 

His words trailed off into a pathetic squeak of terror as he saw Cloud standing behind Tifa. His eyes bulging in panic, the scientist fled back into the side office and slammed the door. There was the click of locks, followed by the sound of furniture being shoved against the door. 

Tifa blinked in astonishment. "What the hell was that all about?" She turned, then jumped when she saw the expression of intense, barely controlled rage and hostility on Cloud's face. 

"Cloud, what's wrong? Do you know that man?" she asked. 

He tersely replied, "Yes. He was one of Dr. Hojo's flunkies at Nibelheim. He was the one who carried out a lot of the actual... experiments." His fists clenched. "I'd like to pound the crap out of him for some of the stuff he put us through." He took a few deep breaths as he struggled to calm himself. 

"Cloud...?" 

It took him a minute or two before he could bring himself to respond to Tifa. "No, I'm fine. Really. It's just that I never thought about running into one of THEM." He shivered slightly. "I... don't want to think about it any more, Tifa." 

She said quietly, "Okay, Cloud. But I'm here if you ever need to talk about it...." 

He gave her a small grin. "Thanks." 

"....and I can always help you beat him to a pulp." 

Cloud chuckled softly as they entered the elevator and headed for Reeve's office. 

(end of Part 1) 

********************************************************************** 

Sephiroth smiling... that's rarely a good sign. 

Cloud's past turns out to be much darker and murkier than anyone ever imagined (like that's any great surprise). But who is this dear friend he can't -- or won't -- remember? 

In parts 2-3,   


- mad scientists galore...  


- object, object -- who's got the object?  


- Reno gets carried away while Elena ends in the sewer... 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/  



	2. COI Part 2

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 01/27/00 

======================================================================  


CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  


PART 2: IT'S A GREAT DAY... FOR SCIENCE  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

---------------  
Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous effects 

********************************************************************** 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2a: PRESENTIMENTS OF DISASTER  
------------------------------------------------------ 

In Reeve's office, Cid and the others stared at pictures of the WEAPONs, thumbed through printouts, and browsed through computer files. They also received the unwelcome report of a strange red tentacle-like object sticking out of the sand on an obscure little island to the southeast. 

Cid muttered sourly. "Ruby." 

Red sighed and said, "Well, I guess that settles it. I think we can safety assume that Diamond has also returned. Now to decide our course of action." 

Yuffie said, "Do we have to do anything? I mean, they don't seem to be doing nasty at the moment. Why not just leave them alone for now?" 

Cid exhaled a big cloud of smoke. "Hate to admit it, but the kid's got a point. It's kinda useless to try and destroy the damned things right now. The Planet's only going to keep putting them back together. We gotta figure out what made them show up again in the first place. You come up with any news or info about Jenova?" 

"Not yet." Reeve got up and started pacing. "Actually, over the last several months, I've been steadily gathering every file on Jenova I could get my hands on and trying to find a secure place to put them. At the moment, they're locked up in a big room two floors below under 24 hour guard. But the files are in a real mess at the moment. If you want to find anything specific, someone's going to have the fun job of sitting down and sifting through all those file boxes one by one." 

There was a chorus of groans. 

Vincent said, "You realize that none of us are really trained for the that sort of information analysis, nor are any of us scientists. We could easily miss vital clues." 

The Shinra executive sighed. "I know, but the problem is we're sort of on our own here. We can't rely on Shinra scientists for too much help. Hojo keep exhaustive scientific records, but he was a lousy record-keeper with respect to administrative matters so there's no real way of knowing just who worked on his projects and who didn't. For all I know, a good quarter of the surviving science staff had connections to or actively participated in Hojo's research. Anyone with expertise in this area probably got it while working with the old lunatic." 

Yuffie muttered, "Oh, terrific." 

Cid flung up his hands and yelled, "Mad scientists! Is that all we've got? A bunch of mad scientists? Isn't there a SINGLE scientist out there who's got their head screwed on straight?" 

"I'm currently in the process of trying to find some competent independent scientists or somebody from Dr. Gast's old team, but they're pretty damn scarce." Reeve shrugged and grinned faintly. "I think it's the nature of the business. A person probably needs to be a little crazy to interested in messing around with Jenova. Anyway, I've also sent a technical team to Nibelheim to retrieve any information and equipment still left in the Mansion. I would have done it much sooner but...." 

"But if what you've said is true, isn't that rather like giving candy to a child?" murmured Red. 

"Or drugs to an addict?" Yuffie chimed in. 

"Well, I hired Reno and the Turks to keep an eye on them." 

"What!?" 

Reeve shrugged. "The Turks are professionals and they have no interest in Jenova or in Hojo's work. Besides, their ruthlessness will hopefully keep those scientists in line." 

"I don't envy them that job," Cid muttered. 

Red swished his tail thoughtfully before asking, "What about the Mt. Nibel reactor?" 

"I checked Shinra's records as you suggested. According to all reports, the reactor was stripped clean long ago when Shinra started their little cover-up in Nibelheim. The advance team on site says that all the pods and the Jenova chamber are now totally empty." 

Cid said, "Yeah, but all that equipment's still there. It probably wouldn't take an expert too long to make that place operational again." 

"I know. I'm seriously considering getting the Turks to demolish it, although I'm sure Reno will charge me extra for that little service." 

"Well, it's nice to know that they've got their uses," Cloud said as he and Tifa entered the room. 

"Reeve! You didn't!" Tifa looked visibly upset. 

The Shinra exec blinked. "What's wrong?" 

"You're not dealing with the Turks, are you? Don't you remember that they're the ones responsible for dropping the plate on Sector 7!? Do you have any idea of how many people died because of what they did!?" 

Reeve looked at her soberly and said in a flat voice, "Yes. I have a very good idea." 

There was a long pause. Everyone suddenly remembered that Reeve had been the one in charge of Urban Development in Midgar. 

Tifa blinked, then said in a somewhat milder voice, "Then why...?" 

"Because they're the best people for the job. And it's also a good opportunity to reestablish business relations with them." 

As a puzzled look appeared on her face, Reeve quietly added, "Reno's a bit of a sociopath, maybe, but he's a professional and very good at his particular line of work. I'd rather have him working for me than for someone else." 

"Someone else?" 

"Yes. The Turks could always decide to work for Scarlet." 

She grimaced at the thought. "But...." 

"Listen, Tifa. I'm not asking you to become cozy with the Turks. Just let them do their job so we could concentrate on the bigger problem." 

She threw up her hands. "Fine. I just want you to know that I'm not happy about the Turks getting involved." 

Reeve smiled slightly. "Objection noted." He then turned to Cloud. "Good to see you awake." 

Cid grinned and added, "Yeah. I was afraid you were going to snooze through this mess and leave us with all the dirty work." On a more serious note, he added, "What the hell happened to you?" 

Cloud's face turned bright red with embarrassment. "On my way here, I got a little sidetracked by the scenery. When I got off my chocobo to get a better look at Midgar... whoosh! Half the cliff collapses and down I go with it." 

Red cocked his head and said, "So it was just an unfortunate accident. We were afraid that you had been the victim of an ambush." 

Cloud shrugged. "Nothing so exciting. I just ended up standing on the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"Man, I know that feeling," Cid mumbled. 

Reeve's intercom suddenly made a strident buzz. 

"Yes, what is it?" 

"Sir, a Dr. Aston wants to report an attack on a Shinra facility." 

Everyone in the room suddenly stiffened and started listening very closely. 

"An attack!? What kind of attack?" 

"The director refuses to say, sir. Says it's confidential, for the president only." His assistant sounded rather miffed. 

"All right. Reeve here." 

"This is Dr. Aston. ESSARUF has just been raided by some unidentified creatures." 

"Hold it, hold it! The what?" 

"ESSARUF." The doctor sounded both irritated and offended by Reeve's ignorance. 

"What the hell's ESSARUF?" 

There was a sigh of exasperation. "ESSARUF stands for 'Experimental Specimen Storage and Auxiliary Research Unit Facility'." 

Red's tail suddenly twitched. 

"'Experimental Specimen Storage...'? So what attacked you?" 

Dr. Aston said snappishly, "If I could tell you what kind of monsters they were, they won't be 'unidentified', would they?" 

Reeve gritted his teeth and said, "All right. You were attacked by entities or creatures unknown. Would you happen to have any idea WHY you were attacked?" 

"It's perfectly obvious. They were trying to steal something." 

Cid rolled his eyes and muttered, "What did I tell you guys about these Shinra scientists?" 

Reeve took a deep breath. "I see. Perfectly obvious. And how do you know THAT?" 

Dr. Aston sounded as if he was lecturing a group of particularly stupid school children. "When intruders break in, head directly for a specific area, ransack said area, then fly away carrying an object, one reasonably assumes that they were deliberately trying to steal said object." 

"And what do you have that can possibly be worth stealing?" Reeve was getting noticeably annoyed with the man. Nobody could really blame him. 

Dr. Aston's voice bristled with offended dignity. "We have some extremely valuable and irreplaceable specimens here! Of course, we have a great deal worth stealing...." 

Reeve rudely interrupted the doctor's outburst. "Do you know what was taken?" 

"Not with absolute certainty. We're currently running a full inventory but the results won't be in for a few hours." 

Reeve glanced up to see Cloud holding up a hastily scribbled note which read, 'Ask about Jenova.' 

"You won't happen to be storing any samples of Jenova, would you, Dr. Aston?" 

The man's reply sounded clearly disgruntled. "No, of course not! We're only an 'auxiliary' facility. Major specimens like Jenova would have been under Dr. Hojo's personal supervision and control. But we do store some specimens from the secondary projects like SOLDIER and other similar...." 

"So you DO have some specimens with Jenova cells." 

"Didn't I just say that? But we're not authorized to do anything with those specimens. They just sit here in archival storage. A waste of perfectly good research material, if you ask me...." 

Reeve's thoughts were moving at a terrific pace. He flicked a quick glance at Cloud for confirmation. Cloud nodded grimly. 

"Where are you located, Dr. Aston?" 

"In the mountains east of the old reactor at Fort Condor. It's the old Mako reactor that used to have a huge bird perching on it." 

"I'm familiar with the site. I'm sending a team out to take a look around. I expect you to extend them EVERY courtesy. They should be there in a couple of hours. Don't touch anything!" 

"If that's the way you want it. There are some wounded personnel but we can leave them right where they are...." They could just picture the man callously shrugging at the prospect of leaving injured people untreated for hours. 

Reeve closed his eyes, counted to ten, then said very calmly, "Take care of any casualties, of course, but don't touch anything else unless you absolutely have to. Reeve out." 

"Sheesh! What an asshole!" said Yuffie as she idly juggled a few shuriken. 

Red growled softly, "I do not like the smell of this. The timing is just too convenient." At the same time, Vincent emerged from his corner, adding his silent agreement. 

Almost a bit too quietly, Cloud said, "It reeks of... Hojo." 

Tifa automatically protested, "But he's dead!" 

Cloud's only response was a long, steady look. 

"You got any particular reason or are you just shootin' in the dark?" Cid watched Cloud carefully. 

"I'm not sure. It's just that.... I just keep thinking back to that fight on Sister Ray. How he controlled those monsters like extensions of his own body...." 

"You think that he somehow managed to survive and he's trying to do... what?" 

"I don't know, Cid." 

Tifa said, "Cloud, it could be someone other than Hojo. Maybe it's some of his assistants or coworkers." 

"I know." 

Cid said, "But you don't think so." 

"No, I don't." 

"How come?" 

Cloud shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure. It's... just a gut feeling." 

Reeve didn't miss the quick exchange of looks between Cloud, Red, and Vincent. At first, he didn't quite get the significance, then he realized that of all of his friends, those three were the ones with the closest contact with Hojo -- at one time or another, they had all been subjects of Hojo's twisted experimentation. 

Cloud suddenly shook his head. "All this guessing is useless. We need to get down to that storage facility and look around." 

"Are you really feeling up to this?" Tifa gave Cloud a worried look. 

He gave her a wry grin and said, "Don't worry. I'm fine." 

Cid snorted and said, "Hell, Tifa. He just bumped his head. It's not like he's damaged anything really important." 

Cloud gave Tifa an 'I told you so' grin. "Thanks for the concern, Cid." 

--------------------------- 

As the others left the office, Cloud lingered behind to speak to Reeve. 

"What's up, Cloud?" 

"The doctor in the infirmary...." 

Reeve looked a bit surprised. "You mean Dr. Stephen?" 

"I think that's what his name tag said. Did you know that he was one of Hojo's primary researchers?" 

The Shinra exec's narrowed. "What? How did you know?" 

"I've... met him before." 

"Where?" 

"At Nibelheim." Cloud's voice was flat, drained of emotion. 

There was a long pause, then Reeve said softly, "I see." 

"Dr. Stephen was intimately involved in a lot of Hojo's Jenova research. He probably knows something useful. The odd thing is...." 

"Yes?" 

"Well, Tifa and I ran into him as we were leaving the infirmary and he seemed positively terrified. He took one look at us, screamed, then locked himself in his office. And from all the noise, I think he was doing his best to barricade his door." 

Reeve looked very surprised. "Really? When the last time Cait Sith saw him, he certainly seemed his usual smug, obnoxious self. That was less than an hour ago. What could have scared him so badly in such a short period of time? A visitor? A message, maybe?" 

Cloud shrugged. "No idea." 

Reeve made a quick call to Security, but soon hung up frowning. "Well, there's no record of visitors and if Dr. Stephen got a message, it didn't come through official Shinra channels. That doesn't mean much. He could have his own private phone. By the way, he's not in his office." 

"Huh? That's really strange, considering the way he was acting." 

The intercom chirped. Reeve drummed his fingers on his desk as he listened. Turning to Cloud, he said, "Damn it! One of the security guards reports that she saw him getting aboard the transport carrying the technical team to Nibelheim." 

Cloud frowned and turned to stare out the large glass window in Reeve's office. 

"I'll tell Security to send him back as soon as the plane lands." 

Cloud was silent for a long moment. "No, wait." He turned to face Reeve. "He must have gone to Nibelheim for a reason. But what?" 

"To escape?" Reeve scowled. "No, that doesn't make sense. There's no need to go all the way to Nibelheim for that. Why coop himself in a plane where we could easily track him down?" 

"Maybe he HAD to go to Nibelheim first." 

"You think that he went there to do something? Or maybe retrieve something?" 

Cloud said, "Could be. There's no way to be sure. Although...." 

"Yes?" 

"There might be a way to scare him into doing something careless. If you get Reno to tell the team that the Turks are planning to demolish the Mansion and the Reactor after they're done...." 

Reeve slowly grinned and said, "He'll think this is his one and only chance. He just might get careless. Cloud, sometimes you can be incredibly sneaky." 

The only response he got was a faint grin and that familiar shrug. 

"You're right. It'll be a good way to panic Stephen into doing something stupid. It might even work on some of the other scientists. I'll let the Turks know." 

"Thanks. See you later." Cloud left to join the others at the Highwind. 

After talking to the Turks, Reeve's thoughts returned to Cloud. He hoped that his friend would be all right. Cloud seemed oddly disturbed by his brief encounter with Dr. Stephen. Then again, Reeve was in no position to judge how odd or how normal his friend's reaction to the doctor might be. He knew almost nothing about Cloud's experiences after the burning of Nibelheim except that Cloud had been Hojo's prisoner and experimental subject for a long time. There was so much he didn't know about his young friend's complicated past and there had been a good seven years of his life basically unaccounted for.... 

Reeve suddenly paused. That wasn't really correct. Even if Cloud hadn't been a SOLDIER, he had been a Shinra trooper for nearly two years. There should be a detailed personnel file on Cloud, especially if he had applied for the SOLDIER program. 

Surrendering to a sudden burst of curiosity, Reeve asked his assistant Max to locate and pull the personnel files of one Cloud Strife, Shinra trooper, private second class. 

Max was not happy and whined, "But sir, if he left Shinra over six years ago, his files would be in the inactive archives in the basement." 

Reeve said irritably, "Aren't we supposed to be able to pull up even the archived files on the computer network?" 

"We're supposed to, but Meteor wrecked a good part of the system. And since the inactive files are a pretty low priority item, no one's gotten around to fixing the access problems." 

"Then go down to the basement and pull the hardcopy files." 

"They may take hours to locate," his assistant moaned. 

"Listen, Max. Part of your job description is 'go-fer'. Now, I'm telling to 'go for' those files and spare me the complaints." 

"Yes sir." Max sounded resigned. "When do you need them, sir?" 

By this point, Reeve was feeling a bit guilty for brow-beating his hapless assistant over something that was just a curious whim. "It's not desperately urgent. Just get those files for me within the next couple of days. Oh, and while you're at it, pull the files on a SOLDIER named...." He frantically racked his memory but couldn't come up with a name. "The SOLDIER who accompanied Sephiroth on his last mission to Nibelheim about six years ago." 

"Yes sir. Anything else?" 

"Nope, I think that's it." 

"I'll get right on it, Mr. Reeve." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2b: RESEARCH DOCTRINE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

It was a short flight to the ESSARUF facility. The research complex was well hidden in a little valley located surprisingly close to Fort Condor. With the majority of the facility being located underground, the tall chainlink fence and a single, small, three-story building were the only hints of human presence. But according to the information hastily dug up by Reeve, the underground installation was actually quite large. 

The director of the facility was also a surprise. Instead of the thin, scrawny scientist-type they were all expecting, he was a large, hulking man who rivaled Barret in size. He looked more like a scruffy dockworker than a senior research scientist. 

Aston glared at them and sniffed, not at all impressed by what he saw. In a gravely voice, the director growled, "You're Reeve's 'investigation' team. I'm Dr. Aston, the director of this facility." 

Cloud stepped forward. "Yes, doctor. Could you show us where those creatures...." 

Dr. Aston rudely interrupted by saying, "I'm a very busy man. Dr. Montessi will brief you." With a ham-sized fist, the director gestured sharply to the person standing next to him before stomping away. 

Dr. Montessi fit the typical stereotype of a scientist much better. She was a pale, painfully thin woman with darkish blond hair and a nervous, twitchy manner. 

Cloud sighed, then tried again. "Dr. Montessi? About those attackers...." 

They were all surprised when the woman suddenly gave Cloud an incredibly intense stare. Her gaze moved slowly down his body, then just as slowly back up. 

Cloud tensed and his eyes narrowed. Instinct told him that this woman was a danger -- not necessarily the immediate, life-threatening sort -- but definitely still a danger. Struggling to control an irrational surge of hostility, he addressed her with uncharacteristic icy tones. 

"Do I KNOW you?" 

Dr. Montessi ignored his question. Instead, she edged even closer, invading Cloud's personal space. In other situations, he would have held his ground but something about her gaze made his skin crawl. Perhaps it was the look of intense, but dispassionate interest. He could have been a rock or a plant or a.... 

Unnerved by his train of thought, Cloud abruptly recoiled and retreated a few steps. Tifa immediately stepped between them, blocking Dr. Montessi's attempt to approach even closer. In a very firm voice, she said, "Doctor. Would you be so kind as to show us where the creatures went and what they did?" It wasn't really a question but rather an order. Standing behind Tifa, Cid gave the doctor a cocky smirk. 

A look of annoyance appeared on Dr. Montessi's face. She distractedly muttered, "Certainly, certainly. If you would just follow me...." But even as she spoke, she was trying to peer around Tifa and Cid in an effort to get a better look at Cloud. Finally, Tifa grabbed the woman's arm and dragged her toward the building. 

Cloud ignored their departure. Instead, he turned his back and stood staring out across the stony ground with a slightly nauseated expression on his face. Red sat down beside him and watched him with concern. Cait Sith bounced once or twice before cheerfully saying, "Hey Cid! Why don't you and the guys take a look inside? We'll scout around up here." 

It wasn't the most subtle of hints, but Cid gave Cait Sith a slight nod. Before leaving, he muttered, "Hang in there, kid," and clouted Cloud on the shoulder. 

After the others disappeared into the building, Cloud muttered, "I hate it when people do that." 

"Do what?" Cait Sith asked, cocking its head slightly. 

"When they look at me like I'm... like I'm a goddamn THING... not a human being but just another curious lab specimen." He made the last word sound like an obscenity as his voice shook ever so slightly with suppressed emotion. Was it only one day ago that he was feeling reasonably happy? 

Red uttered a sympathetic rumble. From personal experience, he had a very good idea what Cloud was talking about. He had felt much the same way himself after being captured by Hojo. But he had been much luckier than his young friend in one critical aspect -- no matter Hojo had done to his body, Red's mind had been his own. Cloud had not been nearly as fortunate. To say nothing of what Sephiroth did to him later on.... 

"Damn it! Every time I think that it's all behind me, the past always manages to rear its ugly head." 

Red gave Cloud a reassuring nudge with his head and said, "The past may be a terrible burden but it also gives us the strength and knowledge to deal with the future." 

Cloud smiled down wistfully at the great red beast as he ran his fingers through Red's neckruff. 

"Strength...." Cloud's voice trailed off, then he continued almost in a whisper, "When I was growing up, I hated myself for being so weak -- weak in so many ways. I thought that being strong would be the answer to all my problems. All my needs." He shook his head slowly. "I was such a fool. I had no idea what I was asking for. Strength has its own price. And sometimes the cost can be almost unbearable." 

Red somehow sensed that Cloud was not talking about purely physical strength, but rather another sort of strength entirely. 

Cloud shook off the pensive mood and headed off across the rock-strewn ground. "Come on, guys. Let's take a look around and see we can find anything useful." 

--------------------------- 

Tifa gritted her teeth as Dr. Montessi ignored her repeated questions. The scientist seemed totally caught up in her own thoughts. It wasn't too hard to guess what -- or rather, who -- Montessi was thinking about. The way that woman had stared at Cloud, as if he was some fascinating bug or whatnot.... 

Finally, Tifa lost her temper and yelled, "Dr. Montessi! Will you PLEASE pay attention!?" 

The doctor started, then sullenly muttered, "Well, if you insist...." 

As they walked through the facility, the attackers' path was blatantly obvious. The creatures left behind them an unmistakable trail of mayhem and destruction -- deep gouges, scorch marks, blood splatters.... 

"How many people did you lose?" Tifa asked. 

Dr. Montessi shrugged indifferently. "Ten technicians and two scientists died. About the same number were wounded to varying degrees. Three people missing." 

"What a cold-hearted bitch!" Yuffie muttered. 

Tifa wondered if there had been something about working for Hojo that turned people into soulless, uncaring scientists or whether those types of people were just naturally drawn to Hojo. But it was a pointless and unanswerable question -- sort of like the question about the chocobo and the egg.... 

Cid whispered to Vincent, "Man, if any of those scientists Reeve sent to Nibelheim behave like this bitch, those poor Turks are really going to earn their fee." 

The dark man walking beside the pilot said flatly, "Hojo was like a contagious disease. His fanaticism corrupted... everything." 

Cid silently wondered if Vincent had been referring to Lucrecia. But Vincent's old love was a topic that was definitely off-limits for casual conversation. 

They passed through two large metal security doors that had been shredded like paper, then down several flights of stairs. A quick trip down a hallway, then they descended still more stairs. 

"Don't you have any elevators in this joint?" Cid grumbled. 

Yuffie smirked. "Come on, Cid. Don't tell me you're getting tired climbing down a few puny steps." 

The pilot glared at the ninja girl, but before he could come up with a scathing retort, Montessi said, "Yes, there is a main elevator. However, the creatures severed the cables when they used the elevator shaft as part of their invasion route. Four technicians died when the car dropped fifteen floors." 

They ended up in a lobby area. On one side of the lobby, the elevator doors had been entirely torn away, leaving a gaping entrance to the elevator shaft. On the other side of the lobby was a massive security door that had been eaten away by some powerful acid. Just beyond the door was a large, sterile-looking chamber filled with floor-to-ceiling cylinders. Surprisingly, the destruction on this floor was strictly limited to the lobby area. Nothing beyond the security door appeared damaged. 

Before Cid walked through the security door, Dr. Montessi suddenly turned and snatched the lit cigarette out his mouth. 

"Hey! What the hell...!?" he sputtered as she chucked it into a red sealed container in a corner. 

"No smoking in Secured Storage. Can't you read?" 

Yuffie sniggered. Looking around, Tifa asked, "So what happened here?" 

Montessi shrugged. "This is the high security archive. The monsters came down the elevator shaft, tore open the door, opened one of the cylinders, removed the sample inside, and left the same way." 

"How does the bloody system work?" asked Cid as he made his way into the spacious room. 

"Each sample is locked in an individual security container, each with its own keypad." She pointed to a cylinder. "To open any container, you have to enter the proper authorization code. If you try to force open the container, you'd probably destroy the sample inside." 

Tifa said, "So who has the codes?" 

"It depends on the sample. Some samples can be accessed by a variety of people but others could only be accessed by the Director of Scientific Research himself." 

As Yuffie wandered around the room, she said, "You mean that old freak Hojo." 

"Yes." Dr. Montessi's response was decidedly frosty. 

Checking around the room, Tifa said, "Only one container opened. So the creatures had to know the specific code for this specific container." 

"Obviously." 

"So who had the access codes to the damned thing?" Cid rapped the empty container with his weapon and got a dull thunk from the thick plastic. 

"We're checking on that information." 

"Can't you just look it up in your friggin' computers?" 

Montessi shrugged away Cid's question. "The master access list is restricted. Dr. Aston's eyes only." 

"Well, if only one cylinder is opened, you have to know what was taken," Tifa said irritably. 

"Of course." 

Cid spun around and glared at Montessi. "So why don't you just tell us what the HELL's missing instead of making us wait for the bleedin' inventory!?" 

In a monotonous voice, Montessi droned, "Because standard operating procedure clearly states that should any security breach occur, a full inventory is to be conducted forthwith to ascertain which, if any, materials have been...." 

Cid finally lost it. "Cut the bureaucratic bullshit!!!" He stalked over to Dr. Montessi and snarled, "Tell Aston to get his butt down here A-S-A-P with the info on WHAT the hell was in that goddamn container and WHO had the fuckin' codes for it! And if he ain't down here in five minutes, I'm goin' to come lookin' for him and man, is he goin' to be sorry!" 

At Montessi's dumbfounded look, he bellowed, "TELL HIM!!!" 

With the lethal blade of Cid's Venus Gospel flashing only inches from her face, she stuttered, "Y-y-yes. R-r-right away." She ran for the intercom. 

Tifa edged up to Cid and said, "Well, that's one way to do things." 

He glared angrily at Montessi's back. "Listen to the voice of experience, kiddo. If you don't cut through this sorta crap, the red tape will bury you alive. I had to go through all this shit before with the space program. I didn't take it then and like hell I'm going to take it now." 

--------------------------- 

It was exactly five minutes to the second when a visibly irate Dr. Aston appeared in the doorway. That was fortunate because Cid was not in a generous mood. Dr. Montessi took the director's appearance as an excuse to make a hasty retreat and bolted out of the chamber. 

"Your conduct is totally outrageous! I was in the middle of a very delicate...." 

"Cut the crap and just give us the goddamn information," said Cid in an even voice that was more intimidating than his earlier shouting. 

The director pulled out a computer printout. "I have it right here." However, instead of handing it over, he smugly added, "But it's highly confidential. I can't possibly release it to you without written authorization from the head of scientific research or the corporation president." 

Cid was not the only one losing patience with the whole affair. Yuffie pounced on the director and mugged him, snatching the printout out of his hands while simultaneously clobbering him over the head for good measure. 

"What a shit-for-brains!" With her back to the others, the ninja flicked open the printout and started reading before Cid or Tifa could take it from her. 

"Yuffie!" Tifa objected. Ignored by the ninja girl, she then looked at Cid who merely grumbled, "Damn brat! She beat me by THAT much...." He held his thumb and forefinger a hair's width apart. 

"Blah blah blah... top level... eyes only... yadda yadda yadda... authorization only... Well, Hojo was the only one with the codes to open this baby up." Yuffie continued to mumble to herself as she quickly worked her way to the bottom. Suddenly, she went dead silent. 

"Yuffie?" 

The ninja girl didn't answer. 

"What's up? Gimme that!" Cid snatched the paper from Yuffie, who didn't bother to resist as she let him yank the paper from her hands. Cid quickly skimmed down to the bottom of the page. 

"FUCKIN' SHIT!!!" 

"Cid, what's going on!?" 

He looked at Tifa with a sour, somber stare. "God, I should have known. No one would bother breaking into a joint like this for some ordinary piece of crap. Read the bottom." 

Vincent took the paper. The pertinent lines read: 

CODE AUTHORIZATION: Director of Scientific Research, Hojo 

*** ACCESS BY OTHER PERSONS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN  


*** MAXIMUM SECURITY MEASURES AUTHORIZED  


*** LETHAL FORCE AUTHORIZED 

SAMPLING DATE: Day X, Month Y, Year Z  


SPECIES: HUMAN (PRENAT MODIFIED - JENOVA PROJECT)  


CLASSIFICATION: SOLDIER (SPECIAL)  


NAME: SEPHIROTH 

"Oh no." Tifa's face went absolutely white. 

For a brief instant, Yuffie thought that her friend was going to faint. The ninja girl muttered softly, "Guys, I hope you realize that Cloud's probably going to go totally ballistic when he finds out." 

Before they could figure out how to tell their friend about this nasty bit of news, a soft, delicate female voice murmured, "Excuse me. I have some good new and some bad news." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2c: EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Cloud and his companions began a systematic search of the area around the facility. Cait Sith and Red weren't concentrating too hard on finding anything. At the moment, they were a bit more concerned about Cloud. 

He had a pretty good idea what was going in his companions' heads. Cloud appreciated their concern but they really didn't need to worry. While Montessi's weird behavior had been really unnerving, it wasn't anything to flip out over. He was about to tell his friends just that when they encountered a technician carrying a small hand saw. 

Cloud said, "Tell me. Did you see any of the attackers?" 

"Hell, yes! Ugh! Butt ugly critters! I'll probably have nightmares for the next week." 

"So what did they look like?" 

"Well, they were.... I mean, they sorta.... They had these big...." The tech waved his hands expressively but couldn't quite find the right words. "Hey, it'll be a lot easier just to show you." 

"You mean you managed to kill one of them?" Cloud looked a bit surprised. 

The tech gave them a cocky grin. "You betcha! We may not be some hotshot combat team like you guys but me and my pals ain't totally helpless. We managed to overload the generator for the electrified fence and fried one of the bastards big-time. C'mon!" 

As they walked toward the back of the building, the tech said, "I saw you guys talking with Dr. Montessi. Wow, what a creepy chick! And you should meet her sisters...." 

"....sisters?" Cloud stopped dead in his tracks. 

"Yeah. Montessi's got two of them. The guys around here call them the 'Three Weird Sisters'. You see, the locals around here have a folktale about three crazy witches that...." The tech suddenly noticed Cloud and the others staring blankly at him. 

"Oh, well. Never mind. Anyway, you've already met Montessi. She's the twitchy one. There's Savois. A real ice queen AND a titanium-assed bitch all rolled in up in one. Brr! And then there's Roissy. Now she does the sweet and innocent bit pretty well, but trust me, the lady's sharper than the damn scalpels she uses to hack up her specimens. Can you imagine that? Hey, are you okay?" 

Cloud decidedly did NOT look okay. And yes, he could 'imagine that'.... An image of a pretty, brown-haired scientist wielding a bloody scalpel in her delicate white hands sprang to life all too easily in his mind. When he realized that Red and Cait Sith were giving him worried looks, Cloud hastily brushed off the tech's question. 

"Oh, I'm fine. Go on." 

The tech shrugged. "Anyway, these three docs may be sisters but I swear that they hate each other's guts. At least, Savois and Montessi have a big feud going with Roissy. When they met, man, you'd better duck for cover! She-cat city! Oh, here we are." 

Walking around to the rear of the building, they found the slightly charred body. The monster had a torso and legs of a large predatory cat, a serpentine head, and was completely covered in scales. The creature also had multiple long, muscular tails that were twice as long as the main body. It reminded Cloud of the guard animals that used to roam around the Mako generators in Midgar, except this creature was well over two times bigger than Red XIII. Looking at the oversized fangs and the razor-edged scales covering the body and tail, it was blatantly clear that the creature was designed for killing and nothing else. 

As they warily moved toward the creature's body, Cloud asked, "Was this the only kind of monster you saw?" 

The technician smirked at their cautious approach. "Most of them were like this. I thought I saw a few smaller flying critters but I can't be sure." He playfully wiggled one of the still extended claws back and forth. "C'mon! Don't look so worried! We toasted this guy but good. Actually, I'm planning to grab some of these claws for souvenirs." He lifted his saw and went to work. 

But at the first saw stroke, the paw suddenly twitched. 

Cloud whipped out his sword and shouted, "Get back!" 

It was too late for the tech. A single flick of the creature's paw tore the technician in half. Rolling to its feet, the monster lashed out with its scaled tails, using them like razor-coated whips. Cait Sith's Mog tumbled backwards toward safety while Cloud and Red both jumped clear. 

The monster's speed was phenomenal. If it weren't for Red's natural dexterity and his own enhanced agility, they would have been cut down instantly. As it was, it was all he and Red could do to dodge and fend off the beast's whipping tails. Mounting an offensive attack was out of the question. 

Behind him, he heard Cait Sith yell, *SLOW*. 

Watching the time spell take effect, he thought, (Great. Now it's only moving THREE times as faster than any of us!) But there were openings. Now if he could just.... 

In a low rumble, Red cast a *SHIVA* summoning. As the pale blue entity gracefully blasted the creature with freezing cold and ice shards, the monster's movements slowed down drastically. Cloud wasted no time and landed two massive blows in quick succession. One slash severed the thrashing tails. The other blow sliced through the monster's spine. The deadly creature screamed, then collapsed to the ground, twitching and thrashing. He took no chances and decapitated the beast with one final sword stroke. 

Gasping for breath, Cloud got to his feet and said, "Good work, guys." 

Red cautiously sniffed the creature's corpse. "Definitely unnatural." 

Cloud stared at the body for a long moment, then hesitantly reached out to touch it. He hastily snatched his hand back and absently wiped it on his pants. 

"That... thing's got Jenova cells." He eyed the corpse uneasily. 

"You can tell?" 

Cloud nodded slowly. "It's... I can't really describe it..." He stared down at his hand. "But... but I can sense it. That creature's been either created or modified with Jenova cells." 

Red sighed. "That's not much of a surprise." 

"No, it isn't." 

Cait Sith nudged the beast's head with his Moogle's foot. "Plenty of firepower here but it doesn't exactly look like the brainy sort. It definitely doesn't look smart enough to break into a secure facility and steal a very specific item on its own. So how the hell did it or its fellows know exactly what to take?" 

"It doesn't need to know anything." Cloud's voice was very soft and very even. 

"Huh?" 

Cloud turned and started to walk away. "If it was created by Hojo using Jenova cells, it wouldn't need any brains. Hojo could do all its thinking for it. It's really just a flesh and bone... puppet." 

Red and Cait Sith exchanged long looks before following Cloud. 

--------------------------- 

In the heat of battle, Cloud and the others failed to notice the two women watching them from the top floor of the building. In her usual nervous manner, Dr. Montessi glanced at the woman beside her. "You can see that I did not exaggerate, Savois." 

"Yes. You're quite right. His mental facilities appear to be in excellent working order." Dr. Savois lowered her binoculars. 

"Unfortunately, he seems to have experienced some memory lapses. He didn't recognize me at all." 

"A trivial matter. Clearly not enough to hinder his ability to function." Savois stared at Cloud, constantly analyzing his every movement. She murmured, "I need to review my data but I do think that this specimen has turned out to be a definite success." 

"Are you certain?" 

Savois glanced at her sister. "You saw the personnel files. Prior to treatment, Cloud -- otherwise known as 'Code C' -- would have been quite incapable of fighting with such expertise. How that young man ever managed to join the regular army...." Savois sniffed in contempt. 

Montessi objected in skeptical tones. "How can you possibly be sure that his fighting abilities are solely caused by our treatment? You must remember how strongly he rejected the implantation. Besides, he was subjected to essentially the same Jenova and Mako treatments as regular SOLDIER candidates...." 

Savois gave her younger sister a steely look. "I am well aware of what the SOLDIER process is capable of doing -- it enhances stamina, strength, and other physical attributes. I also know what it canNOT do. By itself, the SOLDIER process does not provide the candidate with the skills to make optimum use of those enhanced physical abilities. That was the whole goal of our research, to overcome that limitation." 

Montessi gave her older sister a sullen stare and persisted. "Still, it's been over a year since he escaped. With extensive training...." 

"Hardly. That young man was already showing substantial improvement less than a month after his escape." 

"What!? Less than a month? You knew he was alive all this time!?" 

"Yes. My sources informed me of a blond-haired intruder who broke into and out of the Shinra Building just over a year ago. It occurred at the exact same time as President Shinra's murder." 

Savois' sister could only fume wordlessly. 

"Given that three to four weeks passed between his escape and the Shinra Building incident, I must agree that training and practice could explain some of his improvement. But certainly not all of it. And there are other signs -- indicators that are perfectly obvious to a competent observer." 

Montessi stiffened at the barely hidden insult. 

Savois took a sharp breath as she watched Cloud sheath his sword with his usual flourish, then smiled to herself. Oh, she knew exactly what -- or rather, who -- she was looking at. 

(It's not just his fighting skills. It is the other little things.... Do you see, Montessi? The way he moves? The body language? The mannerisms?) 

She had seen it all before, every nuance, in the videotapes of both practice sessions and actual combat. Aloud, Savois said, "Have you told Roissy?" 

"Of course not! The only thing she'd be interested in is finding out whether he's FULLY functional or not." Montessi sneered and added, "The sex-crazed bitch...." 

Savois ignored the last comment and said, "Good. We'll try to keep this little discovery to ourselves. If our sister's lover hadn't been so stupid, Zack and Cloud wouldn't have been able to escape in the first place. Such sloppiness is unforgivable. Over two years of my work, lost because of Dr. Stephen's carelessness and incompetence." 

Montessi sharply corrected her sister. "Over two years of OUR work. And I still think that Sephiroth would have been a much better donor candidate than 'Code Z'." 

"Sephiroth was unique -- too unique for our purposes. He might have been a brilliant general and a tactical genius, but I always considered him dangerously unstable. And events proved me right. Who wants an army of mentally erratic geniuses? Zack was an excellent specimen in his own right and infinitely more stable than Sephiroth." 

As Cloud and his companions headed toward the building, Savois gave her sister an icy stare. "It is unfortunate that you behaved so oddly when you first saw him. Now it's going to be impossible to approach him without making him suspicious." 

"Considering that I had thought that 'Code C' had died over a year ago, I'd consider my reaction to be relatively restrained...." 

Savois interrupted by saying, "Excessive excitement, no matter what the cause, is unbecoming in a scientist. It indicates a certain lack of self-control." 

As Savois left the room, Montessi snarled silently at her sister's back. 

--------------------------- 

There was a barely noticeable break in Cloud's walk but Red picked it up instantly. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I've got the feeling someone's watching us." 

Red casually looked around. "I see nothing but you're right. My neck hairs are prickling." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2d: PITFALLS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The Mansion was dirty, dusty, and basically deserted except for the rare wandering creatures. During their previous visits, Cloud and his group had managed to dispose of most of the monsters. The few remaining creatures posed no problems for the Turks, especially since Reeve had given them a very comprehensive briefing on the monsters lurking around the Mansion. 

Despite his vocal complaints about the job, Reno had really thought that the Shinra exec had been exaggerating about the scientists. However, the leader of the Turks soon found out that Reeve had understated the problem -- and understated it badly. Reno had obligingly played along with Reeve's suggestion and informed the scientific team about the supposed demolition of the Mansion and the Reactor. The poorly disguised expressions of horror on several of the scientists' faces told him that Reeve had been right on the money. More than one of these guys had their own dirty secrets stashed away in the place -- secrets that they were now desperate to recover. Reno wondered just how much freelance and unauthorized research had been going on behind Shinra's and Hojo's back. 

Barely half an hour had elapsed before Elena caught one of the scientists trying to cram a thick notebook into his jacket. After a brief but surprisingly fierce struggle, she successfully pried the papers from the scientist's bony fingers and tossed it into a secure lockbox. And that wasn't the only incident.... 

During the lunch break, all the scientists were herded into the entrance hall, giving the Turks a brief opportunity to relax. Elena peered over the balcony and said, "Reno, I seriously think that we're going to have to strip-search every single one of these guys before we leave." 

He gave her a sour look. "Tell me about it." Reno examined a fresh set of tooth marks on his hand. "Man, can Reeve pick them! The most disinterested Shinra scientists he could find, my ass!" 

"What happened to your hand?" 

"I caught one of the geeks slipping some computer disks down her blouse. When I tried to get 'em back, the bitch fucking well bit me!" 

Knowing Reno, Elena could just imagine his retrieval method -- probably something involving grabbing and groping. In mock sympathy, she cooed, "Poor baby! Did the big, bad scientist hurt you? Besides, don't you know how dangerous it is to get between a dedicated scientist and her research? You should remember that a lot of these guys worked with loony old Hojo." 

Reno muttered, "I hope she's not rabid." 

"Where's Rude?" 

"He got the short straw. He's down in the basement keeping on eye on the library. He wasn't too happy, either. Said that all that weird equipment's giving him the creeps." 

Elena perched herself on the balcony railing. "But honestly, where are these guys digging up all these items? How did all this stuff get hidden to begin with?" 

Reno sprawled back on the steps. "My guess is that a lot of these guys had their own private research projects going on -- stuff that they didn't want Hojo to know about. You'd be surprised by the amount of infighting and backstabbing that goes on when you get a bunch of intellectuals together. 'Information is power' and all that crap. You hide your work so your rivals can't steal it or take credit for it." 

Elena looked astonished. "How the hell do you know that?" 

Reno flushed and mumbled something under his breath. 

"What's that about your parents, Reno?" 

He mumbled a bit more. 

In disbelief, Elena said, "Your parents and both your sisters were all science professors at Midgar University!?" 

He glared at her, his face nearly matching the color of his hair. "Yell to the world, why don't you?" 

"Then what the hell are you doing as a Turk? How come you're not...." 

"Because I couldn't take the bullshit academic politics they were always playing, okay!?" 

Elena sniggered. 

--------------------------- 

After the initial few incidents and minor beatings, the scientists finally got the message: "No pilfering." The upper levels of the Mansion were soon cleared. All that was left was the Mansion's basement. 

Under the Turks' intimidating stares, the technicians were soon hauling away the first load of disassembled lab equipment from the basement library. While the techs were hard at work, Elena and Rude took the opportunity to take a better look around the area. 

"What's this?" Elena walked into a side room that was basically empty except for a motorized winch mounted on the high ceiling. One of the techs followed them into the room. After poking around a bit, he said, "Nothing much in here. Only ordinary mechanical equipment. Not worth saving." 

"Hey Rude! What do you think that was for?" She pointed upward at the winch. 

He glanced upward and shrugged. "Hoisting something?" 

"Very funny. Why put it there?" 

Trying to impress the pretty lady, the tech said, "I think this is the button that operates it...." 

Elena whirled around and snapped, "Don't touch that!" Unfortunately, it was too late. The tech hit the button and the trapdoor under Elena's and Rude's feet suddenly sprang open. 

"IIIEEEEEE!!!!!" as they plunged into the dark pit. 

Reno dashed into the room with his Nightstick charged and ready. 

"What the....? Rude!? Elena!?" 

There was a faint splash from the pit, followed by an outraged female scream. 

"Get us out of here!" 

"What the hell are you doing down there!?" 

"Of all the stupid questions! When I get my hands on that moron up there, I'm going to rip his balls off with my bare hands!" she shrieked. 

From the faint light from the opening above, Elena and Rude found themselves thrashing around in a debris-choked pit filled chest-high with a nauseating mixture of stagnant water, slime-covered bones, and other disgusting types of junk. The reek of decay was overpowering. 

"I think we located Hojo's garbage disposal," muttered Rude. 

"God, I think I'm going to be sick. Reno!" 

"Shit! The winch isn't working. I've got to find a rope. Be back in a couple of minutes." 

He hadn't taken but a few steps when a loud screech from the pit brought Reno running back . 

"What's wrong now!?" 

As she frantically scrambled onto Rude's shoulders, Elena screamed, "Something brushed my leg!" 

"Elena, show some goddamn backbone! Sheesh!" 

"Renoooo!" she wailed piteously. 

"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!" Before he left the room, Reno smiled nastily at the quivering tech. "You dropped my teammates into a pit. That makes me unhappy. Don't force me to come looking for you." The tech nodded nervously and planted himself firmly on a stool. 

In the pit, Rude muttered, "Elena, do you MIND?" She reluctantly slid off his shoulders back into the water. 

"What's taking him so long?" She would have chewed her nails except her hands -- and nearly every other part of her body -- was covered with muck. 

Suddenly, there was a loud scream from above. Elena started to shout up a question but Rude quickly clamped his hand over her mouth. They both froze as more screams erupted, followed by low, bestial howls and a fusillade of distant gunfire. 

She realized that they were sitting ducks stuck in the pit. If the attackers saw them, they were as good as dead. Flattening themselves against the sides to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, Rude and Elena frantically searched for a way out of their predicament as the sounds of the fighting got steadily closer. 

The pit suddenly darkened as something swept across the opening, then the body -- or more precisely, half of the body -- of the unlucky tech fell on top of them, followed by a shower of warm blood. 

Elena gritted her teeth and remained silent. The desperate screams soon faded in frequency, allowing her to pick out the distinctive crackle of Reno's Nightstick. She and Rude exchanged grim looks and redoubled their efforts to find a way out of the pit. The algae and mold made climbing the walls nearly impossible but the two of them were not about to let a minor detail like that stop them. Reno was up there -- alone and probably in trouble. 

They almost made it out of the pit but twenty feet below the rim the pit abruptly narrowed inward and the rough walls turned into slick, finished stonework. There would be no climbing those last few feet. However, after backtracking a bit, they found a open side tunnel -- a sewer pipe, really. Elena didn't have too much trouble moving in the tunnel but it turned out to be a painfully tight squeeze for Rude and his broad shoulders. Leading the way, Elena grimly ignored the unmentionable goo oozing between her fingers and started to crawl as quickly as possible. 

--------------------------- 

It was not Dr. Stephen's day. It started out well enough when he found the specimen 'Code C' dumped on his examining table like an early birthday present. But then everything turned sour. 

'Code C' -- he supposed it had a name but he couldn't remember trivial details like that -- was clearly in a state of major cognitive dysfunction. It was displaying clear signs of paranoia, delusional behavior, homicidal mania.... 

In short, 'Code C' was a raving lunatic. 

Dr. Stephen noted that the specimen's mental condition apparently hadn't improved at all over the last year or so. Luckily, 'Code C' had suffered that convenient brain seizure. Otherwise, the maniac would have undoubtably killed him and the world would have lost a great scientist. 

Panicking in his desire to get as far away as possible from 'Code C', he ended up stowing away with the Nibelheim team -- in retrospect, not the best decision. However, he had thought he was safe... until the monsters attacked, mercilessly slaughtering everyone in their path. 

He had ended up cowering under an overturned coffin in one of the basement rooms, but the monsters eventually managed to sniff him out. They were ready to tear him limb from limb when a distorted, yet familiar voice said, "Wait. Bring him here." 

Clawed arms dragged him from his hiding place and dumped him on the ground in front of the speaker. The man's figure was shrouded in shadow and there was something wrong about the way he moved.... 

"So, Dr. Stephen. We meet again." 

"Hojo! I heard you were dead!" 

The notorious mad scientist hissed softly in amusement. "And so I was. So I was." 

"What are you doing here in Nibelheim?" 

"Oh, I came back to retrieve some information. And I was thinking about using the equipment here to restart my most significant project." 

"Project?" 

In a perfectly matter-of-fact manner, Hojo said, "Reconstructing Sephiroth, of course." With those words, Hojo fully emerged into the light. Stephen couldn't suppress a startled gasp at the bizarre figure standing before him. Hojo still had a humanoid form but his skin was entirely green. His eyes were huge and faceted like an insect's while his body and legs seemed oddly boneless. Tentacles sprouted from his torso with the two largest serving as Hojo's arms. 

"A bit of a change, eh?" 

"How...?" 

Hojo giggled, sending his tentacles rippling. "A sudden massive ingestion of Mako-infused Jenova cells. My own private cocktail." He waved a tentacle at the disassembled equipment in the library. "Unfortunately, it appears that my enemies are all too familiar with this location. However, I already have one in mind, complete with its own little Mako reactor. Courtesy of Scarlet." 

"But how.... I thought that all the samples of Sephiroth were transferred to your labs in the Shinra Building. Those floors were destroyed by that huge Meteor thing." 

"So they were. But there was one single sample left, just where it should be. The ESSARUF depository. I retrieved it just today." Hojo held up a fluorescent green and yellow cylinder that was about four inches long and just over an inch in diameter. He cuddled the container with an obscenely parental sort of glee. 

Dr. Stephen was a careless man, as Dr. Savois had so recently noted. Without considering the consequences of his words, he blurted out, "But that's can't be the real.... Eep!" He hastily clapped his hand over his mouth but it was much too late. 

Hojo wrapped a tentacle around Stephen's throat and dragged him forward. "What do you mean 'can't be the real'? Answer me!" 

"Nothing! Nothing!" 

"ANSWER ME!!!" 

"Urkkk...." Noting that his prisoner's face was turning purple, Hojo eased his grip on Stephen's throat ever so slightly. 

"It's... not... the... real... sample...," wheezed the terrified scientist. 

"How can this be!?" 

"Stolen...." 

"By whom? Who has it!? Where is the sample now!?" 

"Don't... know.... where...." 

Hojo smiled ominously at his prisoner. "Well, let's see if I can't improve your memory." A blade-tipped tentacle hovered briefly in front of Stephen's terrified face, then slashed downward. 

There was a spurt of blood. 

Stephen started screaming... and continued for a very long time. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2e: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Before they could figure out how to tell Cloud about their unhappy discovery, a soft, delicate female voice murmured, "Excuse me. I've got some good news and some bad news." 

They all whirled to face the speaker. Cid snapped, "You bloody well better explain yourself, lady." 

She gestured and they followed her out into the lobby. The woman was quite beautiful in a delicate, fragile sort of way. She had a petite build and long, brown hair caught up in a ponytail. 

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Orienne Roissy." 

Cid lit up a fresh cigarette and gave her a cynical stare, apparently unmoved by her startling physical resemblance to their dead friend Aeris. "Yeah, whatever. Now what is this crap about good and bad news?" 

She twisted her hands nervously. "The good news is that whoever stole that sample has junk. The stolen sample contains nothing except... porcine mammary tissue." 

"Huh?" Yuffie looked confused. 

Cid blinked, puzzled over it for a moment, then started to howl with laughter. "You mean.... you mean that the thief's got nothing but PIG TITS?" 

Roissy blushed furiously. "Y-y-yes, if you must be THAT crude about it." 

Tifa snapped, "Then where the hell's the real sample!?" 

The doctor looked away and said wistfully, "Stolen. It's been missing for over a year." 

"Who stole the damned thing?" 

She meekly said, "I did." 

"YOU!?" 

"While I was working under Hojo, I found about the most recent sample of Sephiroth's cells. I couldn't just leave that sample in Hojo's hands. So I managed to get a hold of the authorization codes and substituted the... I switched the samples." 

Yuffie whispered to Tifa, "She probably wanted it for her own wacko experiments!" 

Roissy heard the ninja girl's snide remarks and cried out, "That's not true!" 

Yuffie mockingly drawled, "Sure. Right. Like stealing one puny sample would have stopped Hojo. From what I've heard, he had gobs of Sephiroth's cells lying around. Fortunately, all of them went POOF when Meteor took the top off the Shinra Building." 

Cid finally managed to stop laughing and said, "So you've got it?" 

"That's the bad news. I HAD it, but I don't have it any more." 

The pilot abruptly scowled and shouted, "Then where IS the damn thing!?" 

"I don't know." Before Cid could yell at her again, she hastily added, "I should explain. I took the sample with me to Nibelheim. That's where I was assigned. But I was forced to hide the sample when Hojo suddenly decided to pay us an unexpected visit. Unfortunately, before I could retrieve it from its hiding place, the sample was stolen by an escapee from Hojo's lab." Roissy sighed regretfully before continuing with her story. 

"The specimen and its companion were later hunted down and killed. But as for the sample...." She held up her hands helplessly. "Who knows where it might be now?" 

Cid said, "Whoa here! When you say 'escapee' and 'specimen', are you talking about a human being or something else?" 

The doctor blinked in bemusement. "A human, of course." 

"Of course," Tifa echoed sarcastically. 

Yuffie started to kick an inoffensive table leg. "No need to panic, she says. Great! Now we find out there's a chunk of Sephiroth floating around god-knows-where on this bloody Planet! The guys who took it could've stashed that stupid sample damn well anywhere before they got killed!" 

"True, but in this case, I'm almost positive that they would have kept the sample with them at all times. If you could find the escapees' bodies, you'll probably find the sample...." 

"You said yourself that it's been over a year! How do you know the stupid thing even exists anymore?" 

"I can't be absolutely certain, but you have to understand that these types of sample containers are designed for archival use. They're very, very durable. The same thing goes for the contents. The samples were specially treated to remain stable for literally decades. Unless it was subjected to extreme conditions such as cremation or such, the sample should still be intact and viable." 

Vincent spoke for the first time. "Why haven't you tried to retrieve the sample yourself?" 

Dr. Roissy looked at them helplessly. "But I had no idea where the specimen went or where it died. Only Hojo had that information and I couldn't just ask him about it. He would have demanded to know the reason for my inquiries. And after I was transferred here, I never had the opportunity to go back to Nibelheim to look for the information." 

Tifa sighed. "Okay. So who else knows about the substitution?" 

"My friend, Dr. Stephen knew about it. But he doesn't know all the details." 

"I'm not saying that I believe this load of crap but let's assume that you're telling the truth...." 

"I AM telling you the truth! I took the sample, then someone took it from me! The creatures that broke in here don't have the real sample and I don't have it!" Dr. Roissy looked like she was about to burst into tears. 

Cid muttered in exasperation, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So what can you tell us about those escapees?" 

"Uh, let's see. Timewise, it happened just over a year ago. I hardly had any contact with the specimens. I only recall that one of them was a black-haired SOLDIER designated as 'Code Z' and the other was a blond Shinra trooper labelled 'Code C'...." 

Roissy blinked as she watched everyone's jaws drop in stunned disbelief. Even Vincent looked visibly startled. Nervously chewing on a fingernail, she whispered, "Uh, did I... say something... wrong?" 

Vincent murmured, "Is it possible...?" 

Cid was too stupefied to reply and could only shake his head. 

Yuffie said very carefully, "Hojo's lab. You were talking about the one in the basement library of the Shinra Mansion. In Nibelheim. Right, doc?" 

"Um, yes. But how did you know?" 

Tifa frantically shook her head and blurted, "No! No way! Didn't she just tell us that both escapees were killed?" 

Vincent said grimly, "So Hojo lied. No surprise." 

--------------------------- 

As Roissy watched Cid and the others, she hid the incredible surge of elation running through her body. The dark man called Vincent was right. What a fool she had been for believing what Hojo told her. She should have verified the reports herself, but she had been so rattled by the sample's loss that it had completely slipped her mind. 

However, it seemed clear from these fools' reactions that at least one specimen was still alive -- and possibly both. That meant that the last existing sample of Sephiroth's cells was practically as good as hers. 

Then she'd show her sisters just who was the greatest scientist.... 

--------------------------- 

Vincent had been just as surprised as everyone else at the verbal bombshell Roissy had dropped. Given the timeframe, the location, and the chances of not one, but two people managing to escape Hojo's clutches, it was a virtual certainty that Dr. Roissy was talking about Cloud and his friend Zack. The likelihood of it NOT being Cloud and Zack was practically nil. 

However, he had been listening very carefully to Roissy's voice. Throughout most of the conversation, he had sensed that the doctor was telling at least the partial truth. But when she said that she'd had little contact with the escapees or that she couldn't remember their names, Roissy was definitely lying. She knew exactly who they were. 

The big question was whether Roissy knew that Cloud was still alive and whether she knew that he was right here, right now. 

Before he could pursue the thought any further, a faint scraping sound caught Vincent's attention. He took a silent few steps to the side, lifted Death Penalty and fired twice into a ventilation grating. The body of a small creature flopped out of the shattered air duct. 

Cid finally managed to shake off his astonishment and blurted, "What the HELL!?" 

The creature was the size of a small dog and looked like nothing more than a four-legged mouth packed with jagged black teeth. The greenish blood oozing out of the corpse slowly began to eat its way into the floor. 

Vincent held up his hand and cocked his head. "There's something else here. And there's more than one." 

Cid smacked himself on the forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! We assumed that all the shit-assed creatures were gone!" 

--------------------------- 

Just inside the building's entrance, Cloud and his companions suddenly heard the sound of gunfire echoing up a nearby air shaft. Charging inside, he said, "Red! Where are they? Can you locate them?" 

A few quick sniffs was all Red needed. He ran over to a stairwell and shouldered the door open. 

"This way!" 

--------------------------- 

After motioning for silence, Vincent listened intently as he prowled around the lobby area, trying to pinpoint the source of the suspicious noises. He ended up near a storage closet down the hall, Yuffie close behind him. She waited for Vincent's nod, then flung the door open. At first glance, the only item of interest was a corpse of a pudgy man lying in the shadowy closet. He caught a suspicious ripple of movement in the darkness, then suddenly shoved Yuffie out of the way as a bunch of small flying creatures suddenly exploded out from their concealment behind the corpse. They streamed out of the closet and flew wildly around the lobby, attacking everyone in sight. 

The beasts were small, about the size of bats, but were equipped with oversized claws and fangs. And when Dr. Aston staggered back into the lobby at just the wrong moment, everyone realized that the creatures were also extremely poisonous. Two quick bites and the director was instantly thrashing on the floor with blood-flecked froth spewing from his nose and mouth. 

Cid shouted, "Watch it, guys! Don't let 'em hit you!" 

The creatures' small size and speed, combined with the relatively confined space made the fight much more difficult than expected. And there was the little matter of their magic reflection ability. The scorch marks on Yuffie attested to that. The ninja girl had tried blasting them with lightning and ended up nearly frying herself as the spell got bounced right back in her face. 

"Yuffie!" 

"Ow! Shit!" Fortunately, she wasn't too badly injured but it definitely hurt. 

Cid and his companions were slowly winning the battle but there were plenty of close calls for everyone. Despite her best efforts, Tifa received a slight claw scratch that sent her to her knees, shaking in agony. 

"Tifa!" Yuffie scurried over to her side. 

The pain was excruciating but she could still move and think... barely. "Not... too serious," she wheezed. "Yuffie! Watch... your back!" as one of the venomous little beasts nearly slashed the ninja girl's ear. 

"Just take worry about yourself, Tifa!" 

As Yuffie provided cover, Tifa concentrated desperately on using her materia to stop the poison's spread and heal herself. 

Just as Cloud, Cait Sith, and Red burst onto the scene, Yuffie frantically screamed, "Duck!" 

Cloud didn't bother asking questions and hit the ground rolling just as Conformer whizzed just over his head and sliced one of the flying creatures in half. 

"Watch it, guys! The damn things are poisonous! And they reflect magic!" 

His duck-and-roll maneuver brought him within a few steps of the elevator shaft, but Cloud was too late to save a dark-haired woman from toppling into the open shaft as she awkwardly tried to dodge one of the creatures. There was something about her appearance.... 

Cid shouted, "Cloud, get her! We need her alive!" 

He nodded and peered inside the shaft to find Roissy desperately clinging with one hand to an thin electrical cable. Her superficial resemblance to Aeris gave him a nasty shock. He didn't know whether he was disappointed or relieved when a closer look told him that she was definitely NOT Aeris. As Cid guarded his back and fended off any swooping creatures, Cloud jumped for the service ladder and quickly climbed down toward her. 

Shaking with terror, Roissy could feel her sweaty hand slipping off the cable. Suddenly, a strong, warm hand closed securely over her fingers. She looked up with a gasp of relief. Her expression of happiness grew even more as she recognized the blond man who had just saved her life. 

"You... you're alive... and you're here! I thought you were dead! Hojo said you were DEAD!" 

Cloud gave her a bewildered look. (What is she talking about?) Then an oddly familiar odor tickled his nose. It was actually a pleasant floral scent but it set his stomach churning. 

(....perfume...?) 

Then something clicked in Cloud's brain, like a key turning in a lock.... 

Roissy was so caught up in relief and excitement that she nearly missed the sudden change of expression on her rescuer's face. But she choked in fright as Cloud's mildly puzzled expression was abruptly replaced by a look of searing hatred which seemed to burn in his Mako blue eyes. 

He gave her a vicious little grin.... 

....pried her fingers off the cable.... 

....and let go.... 

"NOOOO!!!!" 

Cloud blinked at her sudden scream. He could have sworn that he had a firm grip on her, but then the woman's fingers somehow slipped from his grasp. He made a desperate last lunge but just missed. Cloud could only stare helplessly as she plummeted toward the bottom of the shaft far below, still screaming. 

The others heard Roissy's terrified cries just as Cid nailed the last creature to the floor. He whirled around to looked down the shaft, fearing the worst. To the pilot's relief, Cloud was clinging precariously to the ladder, his hand still outstretched in a futile last grab. 

"Shit, Cloud! I thought.... Oh fuck!" as Cid recognized the rapidly receding figure of Roissy. "Cloud, you okay!?" 

He looked upward at his friends who were now clustered around the elevator doorway. "She.... Damn it! I thought I had her!" 

Red shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, Cloud. I know you tried your best." 

Yuffie muttered, "Do you think she could have survived that fall?" 

Cloud said, "I don't know but we can't leave her down there." He was about to climb down to the bottom when Cid said, "Cloud, we've got something really important to tell you. Yuffie, get down there and check on Roissy." 

"Why me? Why do I have to go?" whined the ninja girl. 

Cid scowled at her and said, "You goddamn know why we've got to talk to Cloud! Anyway, aren't you always going off about how young and spry you are? So get your butt in gear!" 

"All right! All right!" After Cloud climbed out, the ninja girl nimbly jumped in and slid down the service ladder, muttering dire things. 

--------------------------- 

Reno could hear someone screaming... 

....and they wouldn't shut up. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 2f: BACK TO THE FIRE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Red said, "Cloud, can you tell if...." 

He bent down and held his hand close to one of the dead creatures, but he was careful not to actually touch it. He glanced at Red. "Yeah. Just like the whip-cat outside. They've got Jenova cells, too." 

"Whip-cat?" said Cid. 

Rising to his feet, Cloud said, "We ran into a nasty monster above ground. I'll explain later. You guys needed to tell me something?" 

Tifa mumbled, "Uh.... Well...." 

"What is it?" He gave her a worried look. She looked rather pale and shaky. He remembered that she had been on her hands and knees just a few minutes ago. "Tifa, are you all right? Are you hurt?" 

"Uh... no, I'm fine. It's just a scratch...." However, she wouldn't met his eyes. 

No one immediately replied. He looked around at his friends. Vincent and Cid looked him straight in the eye with grim but sympathetic looks. Tifa bit her lip and stared silently at the floor. 

Finally, Vincent simply handed Cloud the computer printout. "What was apparently taken." 

From their odd behavior, Cloud already had a horrible suspicion about the theft. He thought he was prepared for the worst but actually seeing the the name at the bottom of the printout made him feel like someone had slammed him in the gut. After reading the printout one more time, he folded it with slow, exquisite care before handing it back to Vincent. 

"I... see." 

Cid said, "Listen, it gets shitloads weirder." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But I'm not sure if that's good or bad. That lady at the bottom of the shaft...." 

"Yeah?" 

"I don't know just how much of her story we can believe but she told us that the stolen sample was a fake." 

That shook Cloud out of his fragile calmness. He blinked a couple of times before shouting, "A fake!?" 

Cid scowled. "Yeah. According to her, the real sample's been missing for over an year. She stole it, then it got stolen from her." 

Cloud took a deep breath. "So where the hell is it NOW?" 

"Nobody knows. Supposedly, some escapees from Hojo's Nibelheim lab took it." Cid coughed and shuffled his feet nervously. "A black-haired SOLDIER and a blond guy in a trooper's uniform...." 

Cait Sith nearly toppled off his Mog while Red gaped in disbelief. 

Finding out that a part of Sephiroth still existed had been bad enough, but now Cloud's face turned stark white. 

Tifa glared at Cid, who shrugged helplessly. There really hadn't been any nice or gentle way to say it. 

In a strangled voice, Cloud whispered, "What... did... you say?" 

"Roissy -- that's the lady's name -- claims that...." 

"....Zack and I took it. Is that it?" 

Cid glanced at the others uneasily and muttered, "Well, unless there was another pair of guys matching that description who escaped from Hojo's basement lab in Nibelheim at the exact same time...." He definitely didn't like the glassy look in Cloud's eyes. Cid had known people with similar blank stares -- it usually meant that the person's brain had basically shut down due to overwhelming shock. 

They had all explored Hojo's little lab setup in the basement library of the Shinra Mansion... read both the labels and the scratches on the sinister glass cylinders in the basement library.... They all knew the very basic story. Cloud and Zack had been captured after Sephiroth's destruction of Nibelheim. Shinra had handed them over to Hojo for use as experimental subjects. The two of them had later escaped. Zack had been killed by Shinra troops. Cloud had managed to elude those same troops and ended up in Midgar. 

That was basically it. Cloud never talked about those events except for some very occasional references to Zack. The pilot had guessed that his experiences with Hojo had been bad, but Cid was only now getting the vaguest inkling of just HOW bad things had been.... 

Tifa quietly murmured, "Cloud, do you remember anything about a sample container?" 

"I don't... recall...." 

Cloud shook his head slowly. He whispered, "I remember so little about... that time. It's all a big blur. I only have these nightmarish impressions -- flashes of people, places, and... other things. Nothing... coherent...." He looked up at them. "Zack could have carted off half the library for all I know. I was so totally out of it." 

"So you have absolutely no idea if Zack took the sample or what he might have done with it? Hidden it, maybe?" said Red. 

"No. No idea. Even after that trip through the Lifestream, the stuff at Nibelheim are still pretty hazy. And I barely remember anything after Sephiroth torched the town. I don't even know how long I's been wandering around Midgar before Tifa found me at the train station. It could have been weeks. It could have been just days." 

Cloud stared blankly at the floor. In a distracted voice, he murmured, "All I know is that... Zack was always... with me. Zack never left... me alone." 

"Cloud...." Red stared worriedly at him. 

// We're friends, right? // 

"We were... friends." 

Alarmed by the increasingly vague tone in his voice, Tifa grabbed Cloud's shoulders and shook him sharply. 

"Cloud!" 

He blinked, then grabbed at his head as if fighting off a sudden headache. 

"Damn it...." It sounded more like a whimper than a curse. 

"Come on. Stay with us, all right?" 

While Tifa tended to Cloud, Cid turned to Cait Sith. "Can you dig up any stuff about escapees from Nibelheim?" 

"I'll check on that. Hold on. It may take some time." 

"Right." Cid glanced over at Vincent and Red. "Well, it looks like Cloud's going to be no help at all." That comment earned him a nasty look from Tifa. The pilot raised his hands defensively and quickly said, "Calm down, girl! I don't mean it in a bad way. I'm just saying that it's pretty clear that Cloud doesn't know a damn thing about that sample." 

Red cocked his head thoughtfully. "If this Dr. Roissy is telling the truth about Zack taking the sample, he must have had some idea of its contents. Otherwise, why bother to take it?" 

"I believe that most of what she said was the truth. As she knew it." 

They all looked at Vincent. "Most?" said Cid. 

"Yes. But I also have a feeling that she knew much more about Cloud and his friend Zack than she led us to believe. She was flat out lying when she said that she didn't know their names." 

"Heh. I sure didn't buy that bit about trying to keep that sample from Hojo's clutches. I bet she was up to her pretty little eyeballs in all this Jenova shit." Cid lit a cigarette and started puffing. "The brat's probably right. Roissy wanted that stupid sample for her own crazy research but Zack snitched it right out from under her nose. Man, she must have pissed!" 

By this time, Cloud had managed to regain some of his composure. 

"That may explain why she seemed... sorta familiar." 

Red's ears perked up. "Do you remember her?" 

"Not really. But there's just something about her.... And not because she looked sort of like Aeris, either." 

"Noticed that, didn't you?" said Tifa with an odd note in her voice. 

Cloud gave Tifa a mild look. "The resemblance is pretty obvious. It just gave me a bad start when I got my first good look at this Roissy woman." 

There was a long pause, then Cait Sith perked up and said, "Sorry, guys. I don't have anything at the moment. I checked through President Shinra's files but came up empty. Not surprising. Hojo didn't report a lot of things, the secretive old bastard. I'm going to search through those boxes of Jenova papers I've got on this end but that's going to take hours. And I've got more bad news, guys." 

"What now!?" 

"I can't get a hold of Reno... or anyone at Nibelheim." 

"Shit!" 

Cid turned to Cloud and said a bit sourly, "You know that this means." 

Cloud had a resigned expression on his face. "Yeah. If Reeve can't find anything, the only place left to go for answers is Nibelheim." He sighed heavily. He didn't like it at all but he was well aware what had to be done. "Besides, we need to find out what happened to the Turks." 

"Rescuing the Turks. Feh!" 

From the bottom of the elevator shaft, Yuffie shouted, "Hey guys! Get Tifa and a stretcher down here quick! She's still alive. Well, sort of. She's in a real mess. Her head looks like a crushed egg." 

Tifa grimaced at Yuffie's choice of words. 

--------------------------- 

Hojo ignored the quivering lump of raw flesh on the lab table as he considered the information so thoughtfully provided by the unfortunate Dr. Stephen. 'Code Z' was dead and no sample container was found by the Shinra troopers. Even the idiot military couldn't have possibly missed such a conspicuously marked item. Obviously, his next step would be to capture and interrogate 'Code C' as to the sample's whereabouts.... 

Hojo chuckled sourly. "It all comes back to the Failure. Again! 'Code C' strikes again!" He stared down at the remains of Dr. Stephen, lying on the examining table. Miraculously -- or rather, unfortunately -- Stephen was somehow still alive. 

"Now, how to get his attention?" 

The mad scientist's gaze turned in the general direction of the sleepy little town situated below the Mansion... its stupid residents oblivious to the bloody events which had just taken place inside. Hojo smiled slowly, exposing row upon row of small, razor sharp, triangular teeth. 

Nibelheim was dead quiet now. 

Soon it would just be... dead. 

--------------------------- 

After the medical personnel managed to haul the critically injured Roissy out of the elevator shaft and into the infirmary, Tifa set to work trying to put the doctor back together. Finally, she sat back and sighed wearily. 

"Well? Good or bad news, Tifa?" Yuffie asked impatiently. 

"I've managed to fix most of her physical injuries. But like I said before, head injuries are tricky, even with healing materia. And while it's not quite as bad as a 'crushed egg'," she glared at Yuffie, "it's still pretty damn bad. There's no way to tell if she'll recover from the trauma or how much brain damage she might have suffered." 

Cid pounded his fist on the wall. "Shit! That means that we might never know all the details about that friggin' sample!" 

Cloud said, "We can't wait around here any longer for her to recover consciousness. We've got to get over to Nibelheim right now and find out what's happened to the Turks. If something or someone has taken them out..." 

"Yeah. I don't like them much but they can handle themselves pretty well in a fight." 

"That would indicate that there is something seriously wrong in Nibelheim." Red looked at the others and added, "Should we leave someone to keep an eye on Roissy's condition?" 

Tifa stood up and said, "I don't really see the point. The medical staff knows what to do. And if there's trouble in Nibelheim, we may need everyone. That includes Barret." 

She turned toward the handful of medical personnel hovering in the hallway outside Roissy's room. "You WILL let us know if her condition changes, won't you?" Tifa's narrow-eyed stare and the blatant adjustment of her fighting gloves made it abundantly clear that she was not making a suggestion. 

"C-C-Certainly, madam," mumbled the senior physician. Dr. Montessi, who was also standing in the hallway, merely gave them a curt nod. 

Before they could make any more plans, there was a sharp buzz on Cloud's phone. 

"Hello?" 

"Aw shit, man. I... I'm not sure how to tell you this, Cloud...." 

"Barret? What's wrong!?" 

"Uh... Aw, the hell with it! Cloud, I just got a report. And it looks like...." 

"Yes...?" It was like pulling teeth. 

Cid snapped, "Barret, just spit it out, okay?" 

"It looks like Nibelheim's... burning." 

In a perfectly even, flat voice, Cloud said, "Nibelheim." 

His friends stared at him with varying degrees of concern and worry, but they found the utter lack of emotion on Cloud's face infinitely more disturbing than any expression of rage or pain could be. 

(end of Part 2) 

********************************************************************** 

In parts 3-4,   


- MORE mad scientists galore....  


- a hot time in old Nibelheim again....  


- who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man.... 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	3. COI Part 3

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 01/27/00 

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
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PART 3: FIRE & BLOOD  
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---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

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Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects 

********************************************************************** 

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PART 3a: BLOODY TRAILS AGAIN  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Outside North Corel, Barret waited impatiently out in an open field for the Highwind II to land. Far in the distance, they could all see a dark plume of smoke snaking its way to the sky. Climbing onboard, Barret received a warm but subdued greeting from his friends. Cloud was just as glad as everyone else to see Barret, but his attention kept wandering to the thin trail of smoke. 

Barret muttered softly to Cid, "What's with Spike?" as he jerked his thumb in Cloud's direction. 

The pilot pulled him aside and said, "It's been one thing after another. Reeve told you about the WEAPONS?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well, the shit's really hit the fan." Cid went on to explain Cloud's little accident and the discoveries related to the ESSARUF facility. When he finished there was a short silence, then Barret exploded. 

"WHAT!? You trying to tell me that a chunk of that bastard Sephiroth is still floating around, that someTHING's looking for it, and that Cloud took it but can't remember where he fuckin' well put it!?" 

Tifa laid a calming hand on her old friend's arm. "Barret, Cloud's memories of that time period are spotty at best. Besides, we're pretty sure it was his friend Zack who actually took the sample. And he's dead." 

Barret scowled. "Are we sure about that?" 

"Sure about what?" Tifa looked confused. 

"Are we sure that fellow Zack's actually dead? I mean, wasn't he some hotshot SOLDIER? With those weird Mako treatments those guys had, couldn't he still be alive?" 

Cloud turned pale, then slowly shook his head. 

"Zack is very, very dead." 

[ ....dark blood dripping.... ] 

"No one could have survived his injuries." 

[ ....guts steaming in the cool evening air.... ] 

"Not even a SOLDIER, First Class." 

[ ....bone and tendons palely glistening.... ] 

As his friends watched at him with various expressions of concern and worry on their faces, Red rumbled softly, "Cloud, do you... remember what happened?" 

He stared out to the horizon. Toward Nibelheim. "Not really. I remember feelings more than facts.... It was chilly, rainy... my hands were slick with all the blood that kept pouring out of those huge, gaping wounds.... I tried to stop.... I wanted to...." 

His voice trailed off to a whisper as Cloud stared down at his hands as he clutched the railing with a white-knuckled grip. 

"I remember my head hurting... And someone was screaming... god knows what. Then everything slowly went cold and very, very quiet...." 

Cloud looked up at his companions. "The next thing I recall is vague flashes of Midgar. I've got no idea how long I was in the city before I ran into Tifa." He give her a wistful grin. "And you pretty much know what happened after that." 

Tifa managed to return Cloud's smile, but she silently wondered, (What happened between Zack's death and our meeting, Cloud? Why can't you remember? When I saw you sitting at the train station, you didn't have any blood on you. You looked clean and decently fed so you weren't living on the streets. So where were you staying? Why can't you remember any of this?) 

Cloud walked over to Barret and stared up into the big man's dark face. "I can't tell you when he died... or where he died. I can't even tell you HOW he died. All I know is that I was right there with Zack when it happened." 

The ex-Avalanche leader couldn't meet Cloud's eyes. He shuffled his feet awkwardly and mumbled, "Aw man, I was just tryin' to be sure. With all this crap with the WEAPONS, Jenova, and Sephiroth, a guy's gotta wonder." 

Cloud managed a slight grin. 

Cid said, "Yeah. We've barely started working on this mess and look what's already happened. The WEAPONS are back. Hojo and Jenova might be back. And with a piece of Sephiroth still around, it's not impossible that HE might come back.... Man, no one ever seems to stay dead...," he abruptly stopped. He shook his head and started over. "What I mean is that none of the BAD guys ever seem to stay dead." 

They all chuckled weakly but each of them desperately hoped that Cid was wrong. 

------------------------- 

As the others went below, Cid remained on deck and stared out at the tall plume of smoke in the distance. Things were quiet for a while, then from inside the airship, the pilot heard an infuriated roar that could have only come from Barret. 

(They've probably just told him about Reno and the Turks.) 

The arguing continued nonstop for a while, then gradually began to fade in volume. A few moments later, Red stepped out on deck, shaking his head. 

"Heh. A hell of a racket, huh?" 

Red rubbed his left ear ruefully. "My ears are still ringing. Vincent did the wise thing and disappeared as soon as Barret started shouting." 

"About the Turks, huh?" 

Red nodded. 

"Well, he's got plenty of reasons to hate them. From what I heard, he lost a lot of friends when Reno brought down that Sector 7 plate." 

"Yes. But Reeve has a valid position, also. Despite what they've done in the past, I believe that the Turks are quite trustworthy when their professional honor is at stake. Perhaps not particularly likable, but we can definitely use all the competent help we can get." 

"I'm sure Barret didn't see it that way." 

"No, but thankfully Tifa managed to keep him from shooting up the bridge...." 

Cid dropped his cigarette and yelped, "He WHAT!?" 

Red chuckled, "Don't worry. I think he's calmed down by now. Barret is quite stubborn but he's not stupid. He may not be at all happy about it, but he's willing to put the matter aside. For now." 

"Well, that's a big relief." After lighting up a new cigarette, Cid said, "Hey, Red." 

"Yes?" 

"Did Cloud say anything during the argument?" 

"Not much." 

"Let me guess. He was busy staring out the window while all this was going on." 

"Exactly." 

Cid heaved a sigh. 

"What's wrong?" 

If it had been anyone else, the pilot would have shrugged away the question. But since it was Red, Cid answered, "I was just thinking. The way this mess is shaping up.... And now coming back to Nibelheim.... I'm not so worried about Tifa but I've gotta wonder just how much more this shit Cloud can take. Sometimes I wonder what keeps him together...." 

"He's a tough guy," Barret grumbled as he stomped out onto the deck. He was still scowling angrily. 

"I know that," snapped Cid. "If it was any other sort of situation, I wouldn't be worrying about him at all. But he's got a real big weak spot where his past's concerned. Weak spot... hell, it's like a gaping, bottomless pit. No telling what kind of crap's hiding in there. And with all this shit about Sephiroth and Jenova again.... Guys, it's just that I've got a bad feeling about this." 

"You mean that you don't trust him," said Red. He cocked his head as he watched his two companions. 

Cid snapped, "That's not it! I like the kid, okay? I'm just saying that we need to keep a close eye on him. For his sake as well as our own." 

"Yeah, you got a point." Barret didn't look at all happy at the prospect. 

Red sighed quietly. "Agreed." 

------------------------- 

Cloud stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the airship's top deck, but he could clearly hear the conversation going on overhead. While not quite as sensitive as Vincent's, his hearing was better than the average person's. 

As he silently listened, his lips quirked upward into a faint, but sad smile. Another person might have been angry or offended at his friends' concerns, but he was both glad and relieved. He'd been wondering if and how he should bring up the very topic. It seemed that his friends were already one step ahead of him.... 

He turned and walked back toward the bridge. 

(I'm depending on you guys....) 

------------------------- 

Barret had been right. Nibelheim was burning. Again. 

Even though hours had passed since the first signs of smoke, the fires were still going strong when the Highwind II arrived. 

Standing on the deck, Tifa looked down at the inferno still raging below and shuddered. Only one thing made the scene remotely bearable -- this time around, the people in Nibelheim were complete strangers. But it didn't take away any of the horror. It didn't matter that the new inhabitants were only actors hired by Shinra. They were still human beings. 

But however bad it was for her, it had to be that much worse for Cloud. Tifa never really experienced the destruction of the town up close and in person. The brief glimpses she had gotten through Cloud's memories and Sephiroth's illusions in the Whirlwind Maze had been more than enough. But he had been right there in the middle of the carnage.... 

She glanced at him. Tifa desperately wished that Cloud would react -- yell, cry, curse, whatever -- anything except this blank, emotionless calm. 

Or maybe he had already gone numb. 

------------------------- 

In some distant, secretive hiding place, something watched the fiery destruction of Nibelheim.... 

....and laughed. 

------------------------- 

The air was blistering hot and filled with a thick, smoky haze. As Cloud led his companions into Nibelheim, he avoided looking too closely at the burning houses. Instead, he chose to focus on their ultimate destination -- the Shinra Mansion. But as they picked their way through the burning wreckage, they soon noticed the unnerving lack of bodies -- or to be more correct, the lack of intact bodies. The few corpses lying around were literally in pieces, savagely ripped limb from limb by some unknown assailant. 

Nibelheim was quite a small town but it still contained well over a hundred people. Adults, the elderly, and children... Shinra had done an extremely thorough job of recreating the town, down to the last detail. In the years since Sephiroth's initial massacre, the little town had become home to many of the actors. When the need for the Nibelheim cover-up had ended, many of them had chosen to continue living in the sleepy little town. 

Cid warily scanned the area. (With all this blood on the ground, most of these poor bastards have got to be dead. So where was everyone?) He squinted as he tried to peer into some of the fires but could see no traces of the missing bodies. 

Cloud suddenly stopped in the middle of the town square, near a burning column of flame that used to be the water tower. His friends saw a growing look of confusion and uncertainty appear in his eyes as his gaze rapidly skipped from one burning building to another. 

Tifa was too busy with her own emotional turmoil to notice Cloud's unusual behavior. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to see this. And despite the fierce heat, she couldn't stop shivering. 

"Hey, Cloud! What's up?" Cid had to yell to make himself heard over the fires. 

"I.... It's not... right...." He put his hand to his forehead as he continued to scan the fiery ruins, his confusion obviously intensifying. Suddenly his eyes narrowed. Everyone jumped as without any warning, Cloud abruptly whipped out his broadsword and got ready to attack. 

"Where the hell...?" Barret bellowed. 

"Incoming!" Cloud shouted. Through the flames, they could now see lean, shadowy shapes skittering and jumping toward them. 

Cloud lunged forward and sliced the lead attackers in half with his usual deadly efficiency. The pieces of the creatures -- a stomach-churning mixture of insect and reptile -- landed at his feet in a splatter of greenish ooze. Behind him, he could hear the familiar sounds of Barret's and Vincent's guns. 

While there were a large number of the gruesome creatures, the monsters were surprisingly weak -- more of an annoyance than anything else -- and didn't seemed armed with anything more menacing than slightly oversized claws and mandibles. They weren't nearly as dangerous as the large, serpentine whip-cat or the flying poison sacs they'd encountered at the ESSARUF facility. And with all eight of them there, the entire fight barely lasted a minute. 

As Yuffie slashed a last insectoid into chunks, she muttered, "Is that it? What a puny bunch of losers! I didn't even break a sweat!" 

Red carefully examined the dead creatures. "She's right. These creatures couldn't have possibly caused all this damage and bloodshed. And they wouldn't have given the Turks much trouble, even with the element of surprise." 

Barret said, "Yo, Cloud! How did you know that they were out there?" 

Their leader bent down and took a very close look at a dead insectoid, but said nothing. Red recognized the now familiar gesture as Cloud held his hand close to the body. Cloud didn't say anything, but his tense expression told the beast everything he needed to know. 

(Jenova cells, again.) 

Without saying a word, Cloud stood up, sheathed his sword, and started walking. Through the smoky, heat-distorted air, they watched him climb the short flight of stairs separating the Shinra Mansion from the town below. His friends exchanged worried looks, then hastily followed. 

He was waiting for them not far from the Mansion's wrought iron gates. In an eerie replay of the fire six years ago, the building was again left untouched by the fire devouring Nibelheim. They saw the moving trucks parked in the Mansion's courtyard... but again, there were no bodies. There were only several ominous dark stains on the paving stones. Red sniffed briefly and confirmed their worst suspicions. 

"It's human blood." 

"Oh man...," Yuffie whispered. 

Cloud continued to ignore his friends' questions as he stood staring at the dark smears that led from the courtyard to the Mansion's entrance. As soon as his friends caught up with him, he simply turned and followed the bloody trail to the front door. He put his hand on the door latch, hesitated an instant, then abruptly flung the doors wide open. The first thing they noticed was a massive dark patch in the middle of the ground floor lobby -- a blood-soaked area easily twenty feet in diameter. Away from the smoke in the town, the metallic reek of blood was all too noticeable. 

"What the hell did that!?" muttered Barret. 

Red murmured, "Judging from the amount of blood needed to make such a huge stain, I would guess that the attackers gathered many of the wounded and the dead in one big pile and left them there for some period of time." 

"Fucking tidy bastards," snarled Cid. 

Yuffie looked around. "So where are the bodies now?" 

Red could only shrug. 

Cloud said nothing and continued to stare blankly at the gruesome stain on the floor. In the meantime, Tifa's composure finally cracked. She ran off to a corner and buried her face in her hands. Cait Sith padded after her. At a loss for what to do, the little cat settled for patting her on the back and making vague, reassuring noises. 

"There, there Tifa. Take it easy...." 

"I'm sorry. This is so stupid. I didn't even KNOW any of the people living here!" Tifa tried to choke back a sniffle. "It's just that... I can't help thinking... I can't help picturing my relatives, my friends... everyone I grew up with! I can just see them lying out there in the town... burning.... And now this!" 

"Don't be so hard on yourself, okay? You've got plenty of reason to get upset." Cait Sith glanced helplessly at the others. 

Cid took a deep breath and glanced quickly at Cloud. The young man had turned his back on the gruesome scene and was propping himself against the wall with his hands. 

When it became apparent that Cloud was not going say anything, Cid shrugged. "Okay, guys. I guess we should break into teams and take a look around. We'll save the basement for last. Vincent, Cait Sith, and Barret? Why don't you take upstairs while the rest of us look around on this floor." 

Red said, "I'll stay here with Cloud and Tifa." He glanced worriedly at his two young friends. 

"Good idea. Let's go, guys." 

------------------------- 

His friends had assumed that Cloud was trying to deal with the destruction outside and his traumatic memories of six years ago. He was struggling with his memories of Nibelheim, that much was true -- but not in the way that they imagined. 

The inferno outside had brought back memories... memories that were horribly askew. It was if he saw the same tragedy through two completely different sets of eyes and interpreting the events in two very different ways. What made matters even worse was that both sets of memories -- and the emotions associated with each set of memories -- felt totally real to him. 

Which was reality and which was the illusion? 

One set of memories recalled the grief of losing his mother but that emotion was almost buried under an overwhelming sense of fear, rage, hatred... and shame. 

The dominant emotions associated with the other set of memories were intense sorrow, loss, and anguish... but not despair. Instead, the feelings were tempered by quiet determination and a firm resolve to do.... To do what? 

Cloud felt his thinking hit a blank wall -- literally. It was like his mind utterly refused to pursue his current train of thought any further. 

It was just like his dreams. 

What -- or who -- had he forgotten? 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3b: MUCKING AROUND  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The ground floor of the Mansion was clear. 

Yuffie muttered in disgust, "Well, this was a big waste of time. So far, we've come up with a big fat zero!" With the resiliency of youth, she had perked up as soon as she was away from the bloodstained lobby. 

Cid scowled thoughtfully. "Reeve's techs probably cleared out this area first and worked their way down. If there are any bodies, they'd probably be in the basement." 

"Do you think anyone survived?" 

"Nope. I don't expect to find any of these Shinra guys alive." 

As she carelessly pushed around some broken pots, she said, "What about the Turks?" 

"What about them?" 

"Do you think that they managed to get away?" 

Cid smirked. "Why do ya wanna know? Don't tell me you've got a crush on Reno. Or is it Rude?" 

Yuffie turned bright red with fury and screeched, "That's NOT it! I was just wondering, okay!?" 

"Sheesh! No need to get so worked up about it. I was just kidding...." 

"That's not the least bit funny!" 

"Man, you're touchy today. Have you got your...." 

Yuffie pointed Conformer at the pilot and snapped, "DON'T-YOU-DARE, Cid Highwind. Or ELSE." 

He shrugged, singularly unimpressed by her threats. "Anyway, about the Turks.... I think they might've ended up like all the others." 

"What do you mean? Come on! You know those guys. They're always running off at the slightest sign of trouble...." 

Cid shook his head irritably. In a serious voice, he said, "Listen here. The Turks are pros. They won't have just bolted." 

"Hey! What about that fight in the tunnels when we were trying to stop Hojo and that stupid Mako cannon? They ran off...." 

"Hell, that's totally different. Remember, we saved Elena's pretty little butt -- or have you forgotten that bit with Don Corneo?" 

Yuffie turned beet red. "Yeah, yeah...." 

"The Turks backed off for two very good reasons. First, they owed us for Elena. If there's one good thing about Reno and his gang, it's that they stick together. Second, both Cloud and Reno figured that there was no real point in getting into a big fight, not with Rufus Shinra blasted to kingdom-come by Diamond Weapon AND with the Planet about to be pulverized by Meteor. 

"But this situation's different. Reeve paid good money for the Turks to do a job. If something big went down, they should have -- would have -- reported the problem to him. Besides, Reno knows that Reeve's a hell of a lot more understanding than their old boss Heidegger. There'd no reason for the Turks to run off without a word. The very least they would have done was give Reeve a 'Gee, sorry, no can do' phone call." 

Cid chomped on his cigarette. "The fact that we haven't heard a peep outta them...." 

Yuffie blinked, then muttered, "Oh shit. You're probably right." 

After several more minutes of fruitless searching, Yuffie spoke up again. However, this time, her voice was nearly a whisper. "You know, for a second out there in the town, I thought Cloud had lost it again. I mean.... He was looking a bit weird there." 

Cid replied just as quietly, "Well, you weren't the only one." 

"And seeing this place going up in smoke again couldn't be easy for either him or Tifa. She's all shook up." 

"Poor kid. But I think she's way better off than Cloud." 

"But he seems to be keeping his cool. Sort of." 

"I know that! But hell, he's way overdoing it. When people shut down like that, it's a real bad sign. It usually means that they can't -- or won't -- deal with what's happened." 

Yuffie gave him a sidelong glance. "You mean like Vincent?" 

Cid heaved a sigh. "Yeah. Kinda like Vincent." 

------------------------- 

As for Vincent, he was carefully examining one of the second story bedrooms -- the bedroom containing the entrance to the spiral basement staircase. The section of wall that served as the stairway's door now lay in pieces all over the floor along with a dead body -- also in pieces. 

"They broke in here...." He stopped abruptly, took a harder look at the debris and said, "No, they broke OUT of the staircase. So the point of entry must be...." 

He peered both up and down into the stairwell. 

"See anything?" said Barret. 

"Yes." 

"What!?" Barret gritted his teeth. (Vincent's a good guy. But god, trying to get him to tell you anything...!) 

"The roof of the stairwell's gone. Ripped open. Debris at the bottom of the shaft. No bodies, though." 

The cat sitting on the Mog said, "Well, unless they all climbed up the wall, a good number of these monsters must have been able to fly." 

"Yes." 

Barret adjusted his gunhand and said, "Come on!" 

Cait Sith said, "I think it'll be better if we all went together. There's no telling what's down there." 

------------------------- 

While he felt like hitting something in frustration, Cloud knew that it wasn't going to do him any good. He wouldn't find any answers to his questions and he'd only upset his friends. 

(Let's just focus on finding the Turks and that information about... me and Zack. I want to get the hell outta here as soon as possible....) 

By the time the two search parties returned to the lobby, both Cloud and Tifa had regained their composures. Shoving the unanswerable questions to the back of his mind, Cloud said, "Did you guys find anything?" 

Barret said, "We found where we think the monsters broke in. Looks like they tore the roof off the stairwell." No one needed to ask which stairwell. 

Cid muttered, "That sounds like the same M.O. as the creatures used to break into that ESSARUF place. That time, they used one of the elevator shafts." 

Cait Sith added, "And we didn't find any traces of Reno or the other Turks." 

"That leaves only the basement. Shit! That place gives me the creeps! But I guess we've got no choice," Yuffie grumbled. 

Vincent said, "Just one more thing. The bloodstains in the Mansion and courtyard are at least a couple of hours older than the ones in the town." 

"Several hours older, huh?" Cloud paced back and forth a bit as he tried to make sense of Vincent's information. "So it looks like they hit the Mansion first... hit it so hard and fast that even the Turks didn't get off a warning. The town was destroyed later. But why?" 

No one had answers. 

------------------------- 

As they cautiously made their way down into the basement, they ran across plenty of bloodstains, scraps of torn clothes, the occasional new bullet hole... but no bodies. And no Turks. 

Suddenly, Vincent held up his clawed hand for silence. He carefully edged up to a doorway, readied his gun, and patiently waited. There was a soft squishing sound. Off to the side, Barret also got ready. 

A wet, muck-covered Elena stepped warily through the doorway, looking both exhausted and incredibly skittish. As soon as she sensed their presence, she spun and lifted her weapon. Vincent and Elena faced off for a long moment, his finger on the trigger and Reno's Nightstick crackling in her hands. For an instant, from her tense, wild-eyed expression, it looked as if she was actually going to take a swing at Vincent. 

"Whoa! Hold it! Chill out, girl! It's us!" yelled Cid. 

Finally, as their identity gradually sank in, she slowly shut down the Nightstick and sagged limply against the wall in relief. 

Cait Sith bounced forward. "Elena, what the hell happened!?" 

As she sank down onto the floor, she muttered, "Have you... have you seen Reno? Or Rude?" 

"No." 

"Damn it!" She slammed her fist against the wall in frustration. Elena then wrapped her arms around her knees and started to shake with a mixture of anxiety and relief. While Cloud and his friends were not her favorite people in the world, she would take what she could get. At least she wasn't alone in this slaughterhouse anymore.... 

"What happened?" said Cloud. 

It took Elena a minute to get her voice under control. A bit incoherently, she said, "I'm not sure! Rude and I got dumped in a trash pit by some stupid, asshole tech. While we were stuck down there, something attacked the place. I heard Reno's voice, fighting, and a lot of screaming that seemed to go on forever! Rude and I tried climbing out of the pit but it just got too slick. We finally found a sewer side tunnel and started crawling." 

"And Rude?" 

"In the tunnels, we got attacked by some god-awful sewer snakes... worms... whatever. Part of the pipe collapsed into a cistern. He was swept away before I could do anything." 

Tifa bent down to get a better look at Elena. "You hurt?" 

"No, no... I managed to keep myself healed up. I'm just... really tired. I've been crawling around those fucking sewers for hours." 

Cait Sith's Mog crouched down beside the Turk. "Elena, we haven't seen Reno's body so far. He probably managed to get away." 

"Yeah, yeah.... But the basement was the first place I checked when I got out of the sewers. I found Reno's Nightstick, his jacket, and a lot of blood. I'm not sure if the blood on the jacket is his or not. But I only came across one body." She looked like she wanted to throw up. "It was in this weird room with all these caskets. This guy... somebody really did a job on him...." 

"Who was it?" 

"I... couldn't recognize him. All I found was a labcoat near the body. The name tag said, 'Dr. L. Stephen'." 

Cloud gasped in shock. He and Cait Sith stared at each other. 

Elena heaved a sigh and visibly collected herself. "What the hell are you guys doing here, anyway?" 

Tifa said, "It's a long story...." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3c: AGONY & ECSTASY  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As Cloud and Cait Sith led the way to the casket room where they had first encountered Vincent, Tifa and Elena stayed behind in the hallway. Tifa told the Turk about the attack on the ESSARUF facility and their purpose for returning to Nibelheim. Nearby, Yuffie paced angrily after Cloud had flatly told the ninja girl that she was not coming with them. 

Elena glanced in Cloud's direction and quietly murmured, "So you're telling me that he doesn't remember anything?" 

"All I know is that whatever happened here was pretty traumatic." Tifa gestured vaguely. 

"Zack. Hmmm. That name sounds sorta familiar. What did he look like?" 

"Zack? Well...." Tifa frowned. "He was tall, just a bit shorter than Sephiroth. Dark, spiky hair, rather like Cloud's but longer in the back. Lean, powerful build. A bit more muscular-looking than Sephiroth. Good-looking, but not as scarily handsome as you-know-who." 

Elena frowned, then snapped her fingers. "Hey, I think I know who you're talking about. I mean, I've seen his picture more than once." 

Tifa eagerly said, "Where?" 

"When the Turks were sent after Sephiroth, they gave us a detailed briefing. In a lot of the casual photos of Sephiroth, there was usually a dark-haired guy standing nearby in the background. And that guy carted around a huge broadsword just like Cloud." 

"That's got to be him!" 

The blond Turk nodded. "But I don't know anything about the guy." 

Tifa's expression turned a bit wistful. "I only knew him for a very short time -- probably less than 24 hours in total -- but I remember that he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. Considerate, easy to talk to, a good listener... you know the sort?" 

Elena grinned slightly. "You noticed a lot about the guy in that 'very short time'." 

Tifa sputtered, "Hey. It's just that... After Cloud left town.... I mean, I was sort of curious about SOLDIERs. And it wasn't like I could just chat up the great Sephiroth!" She shivered. "He gave me the chills even then." 

She sighed, "So the only person I could really talk to was Zack. I had no idea that Cloud had been right there in front of me all along. Those trooper masks hide pretty much everything. And Zack probably saved my life when the bridge to the Reactor broke. You know, it's hard to imagine a nice guy like that hanging around Sephiroth." 

"He was before my time. Although, Reno...," Elena's voice wavered slightly, "...probably bumped into him once or twice." 

Yuffie had been steadily eavesdropping during their conversation. Now she nudged Elena with an elbow and said, "Awww. I think Elena's worried about ole carrot-top." 

Tifa glared at Yuffie. "That's not funny! Listen, Reno's far from being my favorite person in the world, but he can be in real serious trouble!" She turned to Elena who had suddenly gone pale. Grabbing her hand, Tifa said urgently, "We'll find him. And Rude. Don't worry. No matter what's happened in the past, we're working together now. And we won't give up." 

Elena flushed and looked away. "It's not like I... I mean, naturally I'm worried about a colleague...." Her voice trailed off indecisively just as Barret and Cid suddenly bolted from the casket room with decidedly nauseated looks on their faces. 

The women took a few steps forward. 

"Cid, Barret! What's wrong!?" 

Barret hastily blocked the door with his body and blurted out, "No way. You do NOT want to go in there!" 

------------------------- 

The casket room stank of agony and terror. A lump of raw, abused flesh that had once been a human being lay sprawled on a casket while miscellaneous bits of the body were scattered around the room like grotesque confetti. 

After a long look, Barret and Cid collided in the doorway in their rush to get some fresh air. Red stood his ground, but he looked away, his lips curling in disgust. Cait Sith did an excellent imitation of passing out cold atop the Mog's head while back in Midgar, Reeve grabbed for a nearby trashcan. Even Vincent looked visibly disturbed by the sight. 

After the first quick look, Cloud turned away and concentrated on the labcoat, the name tag, the walls... anything except the body. His eyes finally focused on an object lying close to the wall. He bent and gingerly picked it up. 

In a low, furious growl, Red said, "Who's responsible for this atrocity?" 

Cloud whispered, "I don't know. But I'm pretty sure who it was done to." 

Cid, who had just staggered back into the room, muttered, "Who?" 

"Dr. L. Stephen." 

"How do you fucking know!?" 

Cloud turned around. To their shock, they saw that he was holding a severed human hand. In an eerily calm voice, he said, "I'd recognize this hand anywhere. It's Stephen's." 

Cait Sith sat up and whispered, "Cloud...." 

"And that arm." He jerked his head toward the body. The upper right arm, hanging from the torso by a shred of skin, had a conspicuous tattoo of a heart surrounded by thorny vines. It was quite the unexpected thing to see on a 'serious' scientist. Just above the heart tattoo was a ribbon bearing the name 'Orienne'. 

"It's Stephen," Cloud repeated. 

His friends stared at him wordlessly. Despite his earlier reluctance to look at the body, Cloud now seemed intent on committing every little detail to memory. While he stared at the body, everyone else jumped when Cid's phone suddenly broke the heavy silence with a subdued chirp. 

The pilot fumbled open his phone and snarled, "Jeez! What the hell is it?" 

"Sir! Good news!" 

"We fucking well need it. What's up?" 

A tired male voice snapped, "Yo, Highwind, you find any traces of Reno or Elena?" 

"Rude!? Is that you!?" Cid sputtered. 

"Yeah. Well? Have you?" 

"Uh... Elena's okay, just a bit shaky." 

"What about Reno?" Rude's voice was harsh with worry. 

Cid took a deep breath. "Sorry. No trace of him." 

"Shit!" 

Still absently holding the dismembered hand, Cloud checked his watch. "It's getting late. I don't think it's a good idea to hang around here after dark. Let's finish up a quick sweep for Reno. If we don't find anything, we'll spend the night at North Corel. We've been going nonstop since sunrise and all of us need rest, especially Tifa and Elena. We're certainly not going to get any rest around here. We'll come back tomorrow and do a more thorough search when we're in better shape." 

Red looked a bit startled at the brisk decisiveness in Cloud's voice, but merely said, "Definitely sounds like a good plan." 

Cid said, "Right. Rude, we'll be joining you in about an hour, so sit tight." He hung up, then turned to the others. "Guys, let's hurry up so we can blow this sick joint!" 

"But what about the fires. And the townspeople?" Cait Sith said. 

Cloud said, "We can't really can't do anything about the fires except to let them burn themselves out." 

Red added, "The only thing that might work are the SHIVA or LEVIATHAN summonings... and those spells would probably level what remained of the town and obliterate whatever clues there might be." 

"As for the townspeople...." Cloud sighed quietly. "I'm sorry to say but I think it's probably too late to do anything for those poor people. The sad fact is that we still have no idea who's responsible or where they might be." 

Red sadly swished his tail as he rose to his feet. "You're probably right." Glancing at the mutilated body, the beast added, "And what about Dr. Stephen here?" 

"Him?" The sadness in Cloud's expression abruptly vanished. With an indifferent shrug, he coolly said, "He got what he deserved." 

Red blinked in a mixture of shock and surprise. 

Cloud casually tossed Dr. Stephen's severed hand on top of the corpse as he headed out of the room. When he realized that his friends weren't following, he glanced curiously at them and said, "Come on, guys. What are you waiting for?" before continuing out the door. 

Vincent gave Dr. Stephen's body a brief look, then silently followed Cloud out of the room. 

Red, Cait Sith, and Cid stared at the door, then at each other. As they heard Cloud telling Elena the good news about Rude out in the hallway, Cid muttered, "Whoa...." 

------------------------- 

In the hall, Barret glanced back toward the casket room only to see Red, Cid, and Cait Sith peering around the door at Cloud's back. They all had rather strange looks on their faces. Barret walked over. Still looking a bit ill, he said, "What gives?" 

Cid and the others hastily exited the casket room and slammed the door shut. The pilot muttered very quietly, "I'm not sure. I'll tell you about it later." 

Cloud turned and gave the pilot a worried look. "Cid? Are you feeling all right?" 

(You're asking me!?) But the pilot simply shrugged. "I just want to get the hell out of here." 

"Right. Let's move out, guys!" 

------------------------- 

They made a quick but thorough search of the Mansion's basement, but failed to turn up any traces of Reno or any more nasty surprises. Finally, the weary crew trudged out of the Mansion, through the dying flames of the town, and back to the safety and security of the Highwind II. A hidden spy -- nothing more than a flying eyeball with wings -- observed their departure as the airship headed for the more hospitable surroundings of North Corel. 

Through the spy's eye, Hojo watched them leave, then ordered the spy to follow them at a discrete distance. For the moment, he was content to sit back and observe. He still had things to do, preparations to make.... He wasn't ready for Cloud just yet. 

In the reddish light from the setting sun, Hojo smiled malevolently down at his involuntary 'hostess'. 

"Scarlet. How nice to see you again. And how kind of you to allow me to 'borrow' your private weapon facility AND your secret little Mako reactor for my new project. Science will thank you." 

"Screw you, Hojo!" 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3d: NEGOTIATIONS & BARGAINS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

On board the Highwind II, Elena cheered up a bit when she saw her fellow Turk. 

"Rude! Are you okay?" 

Rude merely grunted an affirmative, but it was obvious that he was glad to see his fellow Turk. 

Her next question made him scowl. "Did you see any trace of Reno?" 

"Nope. How about you?" 

"We've been all over the Mansion and no sign of him." Elena shook her head slowly, then told her colleague about her adventures and the gruesome discoveries of the day. She finished by swallowing heavily, then said, "Almost all the bodies are missing." 

"What!?" 

"The only bodies we found were ones that were extremely... damaged. Like, in pieces. Most of the townspeople, the Shinra crew, and Reno... all gone." 

"Shit!" 

"And it gets worse, Rude." 

"How can it possibly get worse!?" 

She glanced uneasily at Cloud, who took a deep breath and said, "We ran to some monsters in Nibelheim. They had Jenova cells." 

"How the hell do you know?" 

Cloud said in a firm voice. "I just do. There's mounting evidence that Hojo may still be alive." 

Red said, "Or that some of Hojo's scientific colleagues may be continuing his work." 

Rude glared at Cloud and the others. "Hold it! Didn't you guys kill that crackpot?" 

"We thought we did. But it's possible that he's somehow managed to regenerate himself." 

"How?" 

"Before we fought at the Sister Ray, he gave himself a massive dose of Jenova cells and Mako. It turned him into a monster. Physically, that is." Cloud looked away. "Hojo's always been a monster in the inside." 

Cid took up the slack in the conversation and told Rude about their experiences at the ESSARUF facility. "Since the creatures that we ran into there also had Jenova cells, somebody's up to no fucking good." 

"No wonder Reeve was so anxious to secure the stuff in the Mansion." 

Cait Sith said, "Actually, I sent you even before I knew about the ESSARUF theft." 

"So... what do the attackers want with Reno and those bodies?" Elena said. 

"Man, I do NOT wanna even think about it," muttered Barret. 

Cloud said quietly, "I don't know whether to hope that Reno's still alive or whether to hope that he's dead." 

"How can you say that!?" snarled Elena. 

Cloud stared her right in the eye and said, "Because I know what Hojo and his sort are capable of." 

Elena blinked at the intensity of Cloud's gaze, then she suddenly got a sick look on her face. "You don't think Hojo's going to... DO something... to him?" Horrific visions of distorted, monstrous bodies danced through her head. "Oh my god...." 

"He damn well better not!" Rude scowled fiercely. "We'll teach him what it means to mess with the Turks." 

"So, what are we going to do? How are we going to find Hojo or whoever?" 

Red said, "We have no idea what Dr. Stephen said to his torturer before he died. And there's no telling if Dr. Roissy is going to recover enough to talk. At this point in time, our best hope is to dig up more information on Zack and Cloud. If we backtrack their escape route, we might be able to zero in on a search area." 

Yuffie added, "Well, if Cloud was pretty much out of it the whole time, then Zack would have been running the show. Maybe there was a close friend he might have contacted? Relatives? Aside from his parents in Gongaga, of course." They all looked at Cloud who shrugged. 

Cait Sith said, "Actually, I'm already looking into it. It'll take a while to locate the right files. After all, Cloud and Zack were 'officially' listed as dead over 6 years ago." 

Turning to Rude and Elena, Tifa said, "We'll be spending the night in North Corel. Tomorrow, we're planning on going back to Nibelheim to look for more clues. You're welcome to join us." 

"Or you can come back to Midgar and help me with the research end of things. I could really use the help digging through all the records," Cait Sith added. 

Elena sighed. "I'll... think about it tonight." She glanced at Rude who nodded affirmatively. 

Turning to Cid, Elena said, "Now that our immediate plans are settled, I need hot water. Lots and lots of hot water!" 

"Sure, in the crew quarters." 

Rude glanced at Elena's muck-covered clothes and said, "Uh, Elena. Maybe you should rinse yourself off on deck first. I don't think Cid's going to appreciate you stinking up his ship and dribbling little bits of crap all over the decks." 

She brushed self-consciously at her filthy clothes. 

"Yeah." 

------------------------- 

After chasing the guys away from the rear deck of the Highwind, Tifa and Yuffie helped Elena strip off all her dirty clothes. After a quick rinse with a few buckets of lukewarm water, she was now draped in a sheet. She had nothing else to wear after Yuffie had carelessly kicked Elena's clothes overboard. 

"Yuffie!" 

"Chill out, Tifa. They were a total loss anyway." 

"Maybe, but you could've asked first," muttered Tifa. 

------------------------- 

Alone on the bridge of the Highwind, Cid turned to Cait Sith and said, "Okay, Reeve. Talk!" 

"Huh?" 

"I saw that look between you and Cloud when Elena first brought up Dr. Stephen's name." 

The little cat sighed. "Stephen was the doctor who treated Cloud after we rescued him last night." 

"So? That doesn't explain...." 

"Stephen was also very heavily involved in Hojo's Nibelheim experiments. Cloud wasn't too clear on details but I got the impression is that it was Dr. Stephen who did a lot of the actual... 'hands-on'... experimentation." 

"Shit!" 

"Exactly. And while Cloud doesn't say much about it, I'm sure you've already guessed that it was a pretty hellish experience. Now given that the good Dr. Stephen was probably directly responsible for a lot of it...." 

Cid exhaled very slowly. "Well, now I'm beginning to understand Cloud's reaction. Hell, if things were THAT bad, I'd think I'd be doing a goddamn victory dance." 

------------------------- 

Cloud was standing on the bow of the Highwind. Considering where they had just been and what they had seen, he was a bit startled to realize that he was in a surprisingly good mood. 

------------------------- 

As the women rounded the deckhouse and headed for the stairs, Elena said, "Don't worry about the clothes, Tifa. It's no big deal. I'm just glad to be alive and out of that hellhole! But I'm not going to feel clean until I take a good hot shower!" 

Barret, who had been lurking in the shadow of the deckhouse, loudly muttered, "But ain't nothing's going to get rid of the smell of Turks...." as he stomped away. 

Elena flushed in anger. "Why you...." 

Shaken out of his pleasant mood, Cloud quickly rejoined the others and murmured, "Tifa...." She nodded quickly and went after Barret. 

In the meantime, Rude grabbed Elena's arm and whispered, "Cool it." 

"But...!" 

"We need their help to find Reno, okay?" 

"Why....?" 

"Because they're probably the only guys around who know a damn thing about all this Jenova shit." 

"You buy that story of theirs?" 

"Yeah. And I know you believe it too. So let's try to work with these people, okay?" 

Cloud turned to Elena and said, "Sorry about that. I'll show you down to the showers." 

Elena shrugged and said irritably, "Fine." 

--------------------------- 

Just outside the crew quarters, Elena turned to Cloud and said, "I... appreciate your willingness to help us find Reno." She smiled sourly. "Considering what's gone on before...." 

Cloud shrugged. "What's past is past. And no matter what Reno's done, he certainly doesn't deserve to be in Hojo's hands." He hesitated slightly. "Tifa seems to agree with me, but you might want to steer clear of Barret if you can. I think he's willing to put certain things aside for now, but...." 

Elena blinked, then nodded. "Oh, right. Sector 7." She looked a bit uncomfortable. "I've got to say that it was probably the wrong sort of thing to do, but.... I'm not sure I would have refused to do it myself if President Shinra had ordered it. You probably don't understand how it is...." 

Cloud looked away. He said softly, "But I do understand. When you have a job that you're very good at, you take a lot of pride in your competence and skill. You want to be the best. And when you focus so much on being professional and accomplishing the job, it's so easy to forget to ask whether you should be doing that job at all. Right and wrong... morals... fairness... justice... all those things get pushed aside. And the longer it goes, the easier it becomes." He shrugged. "You tell yourself that it's not your responsibility because you're just following orders or doing your job." 

"That's... exactly right." Her shoulders sagged a bit. "I started out with the Midgar cops, then transferred to the Shinra military because I was always looking for better prospects... then I finally got picked for the Turks. And along the way, I just quit asking questions. If it hadn't been for Reno, I probably would have continued to just blindly follow orders. I would have stood and fought you guys in the tunnels down to the bitter end." 

Cloud looked at her. "Then there would have plenty of casualties on both sides, and probably some fatalities." It wasn't a boast but a bald statement of fact. 

"Yeah. When Reno backed down, I was so damn mad.... Tseng was dead and.... I thought that Reno had lost his nerve. But when I sat back and thought about it afterward, I began to realize that he was right. The whole fight would have been pretty much pointless and meaningless." 

"I wouldn't say that. Reno's decision that day could have changed... everything. If we had been forced to fight you guys, you could have put a good number of us out of commission. And if that had happened, we might have been too weak to stop Hojo. He would have fired the Sister Ray one more time and turned Midgar into nothing more than a smoking crater. And with no one left to stop Sephiroth, this Planet would now be nothing more than a few lifeless chunks of rock floating in space. So in an indirect way, I guess you could say that Reno did his own bit to save the Planet." 

Elena sighed. "Well, he acted like he was just fed up with fighting with you guys. But sometimes I think that that Sector 7 incident shook him up more than he let on." 

Cloud said quietly, "Developing a conscience can be one of the hardest things in the world. But there sometimes comes a point when you have to do what you think is right, no matter the cost or the pain." 

He abruptly shook his head. "Listen, I didn't mean to go on rambling like that. And you... uh, you might catch a cold standing around in nothing more than a wet bedsheet." A good humored grin appeared on his face. 

Elena glanced down. She was mortified to notice that the sheet she was wearing was indeed wet. It was also becoming translucent and clinging to her body. Blushing furiously, she peeked inside the bathroom to make sure it was empty, then zipped inside. 

Cloud shook his head and chuckled softly. He walked down the hall and nearly ran into Barret. For a man of his size, Barret could be amazingly quiet when he really wanted to be. He was leaning against the wall, apparently waiting for Cloud. 

"Barret!" 

"Heard you talking to Elena." 

He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "About Reno?" 

"Yeah." 

Cloud glanced up at his friend who still looked angry, but also rather thoughtful. 

"Spike, you seem pretty willing to go easy on that Reno guy, considering that he was responsible for blowing up the support pillar and crushing god knows how many people in Sector 7," Barret growled. 

Cloud gave the large man a hard stare. "Reno may have pushed the button, but he wasn't the only person responsible for that whole tragedy. If you really want to, there's plenty of blame to spread around. Myself for being too slow to stop Reno from pushing that button. President Shinra for coming up with the damn idea in the first place. Everyone in Avalanche who pissed Shinra off by blowing up the Mako reactors. Reeve for knowing but not doing anything about it. How far do you want to push it? What's done is done. Vengeance on Reno isn't going to bring the dead back to life." 

Barret scowled thunderously but remained calm. "Is that it? You want me to forget about what that damn Turk's done? Let him get away scot free?" 

"No. And I think you're wrong in assuming that Reno escaped totally unscathed from what happened with Sector 7." 

"Why are you telling me all this, Cloud?" 

The blond man didn't misunderstand the question. "Because I want you to get over the past." 

Barret opened his mouth but Cloud held up his hand to stop him from speaking. "I know. Considering MY past, I'm the last person who should be talking. But it's because of that very past that I don't want you to get stuck brooding about what can't be changed. Misery doesn't always like company." 

Cloud turned away and said quietly. "I can't escape my past because it's woven into my very flesh and bones. It haunts me every time I see my eyes in a mirror. I feel it every time I fight or do things that no normal human can do. You should know what I'm talking about." He glanced at Barret's gunhand. 

The large man rubbed his arm just above his gunhand. The weapon was a constant reminder of what Shinra had done to him, his family, and his hometown. He grunted, "Yeah...." 

"You with your gun hand... Red with his tattoo... Vincent and I with our whole bodies. We all carry chunks of our individual pasts in permanent and indelible ways. Maybe you can never forget what happened at North Corel. Maybe you don't want to. And like I said, there are some things you can't put aside, things that make and define the person you are... things you can never leave behind or escape from. But the tragedy at Sector 7 isn't one of them." Cloud rubbed his forehead. "There I go again. Listen, Barret. Just think about it, okay?" 

Cloud left Barret staring thoughtfully at the floor, still rubbing his gunhand. He climbed up the stairs only to find Vincent silently waiting for him. 

"What the...." 

"Our entire bodies...," Vincent said softly, echoing Cloud's own words. His metal claw twitched slightly. 

"Oh, good grief." Cloud realized that with his abnormally acute hearing, Vincent probably overheard his entire conversation with Barret. He wondered if he'd said anything to make Vincent angry. But the dark man didn't seem annoyed. He cocked his head slightly. 

"You... understand." Vincent looked down at his metal claw. 

Cloud blinked and said, "Yes. I do." 

------------------------- 

In the crew showers, Elena took a look in the mirrors. It was worse than she'd thought. Cloud had understated things considerably. 

(Oh hell....) 

She could practically see her own nipples through the wet bedsheet. But curiously, that hadn't seemed to faze Cloud in the slightest. He had played it cool. Elena was grateful for that. 

As she scrubbed at her hair, she thought, (He really seemed to know what he was talking about. All that stuff about not asking questions... that sounded like it all came from personal experience. I wonder... did he go through the very same thing when he was in SOLDIER?) 

------------------------- 

"Cloud! Did Barret find you?" Tifa had a worried expression on her face. 

"Yeah. I bumped into him downstairs." 

"Did he...." 

"We talked. I hope he thinks about what I said." 

"Well, I can't blame him for being angry and bitter. Sector 7... it was a monstrous thing for Reno to do. On the other hand, Elena doesn't seem too bad as Turks go. But she's got a mean temper." 

"I know. She's really proud of being a Turk. It means a lot to her. Oh, by the way, can you find something for her to wear?" 

"Thanks for reminding me. With all that stuff with Barret, I nearly forgot. But she'll have to settle for a crewman's outfit for now." 

Cloud walked past her, then stopped. "Uh, Tifa...?" 

"Yes." She turned to look at him. 

"Are you really feeling all right?" 

Tifa seemed a bit startled, then said ruefully, "I think that's usually my question." 

He shrugged. "I think I'm doing okay. For now, at least. Although, if I think about Nibelheim too much...." 

She shivered slightly and looked away. "I know what you mean." 

"Lots of questions and no answers. I don't know. I guess I'm just staying busy to keep myself from brooding about things I can't do much about." 

"Same thing here. Oh, I meant to ask you. Was it really Stephen down there in the basement? The doctor from Midgar?" 

"....Yes." 

"Was... was it really that bad?" 

Cloud nodded. "It was a slow, agonizing death. I can just imagine what he went through. The memories are going to stay with me for a long, long time." 

"I'm... I'm sorry." 

"Huh? For what?" 

"You don't need any more bad memories, Cloud." 

He looked a bit surprised, then he gave her a resigned shrug. "I'm afraid it's the story of my life. Maybe it's just my fate. I'll just have to deal with it." He shrugged, then headed down the corridor. With his back toward her, Tifa couldn't see the quick, odd little smile that appeared momentarily on Cloud's face. 

------------------------- 

Cloud found Cid on the bridge of the Highwind, just as he expected. The pilot glanced at him and said, "We're nearly at North Corel." He yawned and stretched until his bones creaked. "Man, sometimes I think I'm getting too old for all this." 

Cloud chuckled. 

On a more serious note, Cid looked at his companion and said, "Reeve told me about Dr. Stephen." 

"Oh. I see. Did he tell you... everything?" 

"I'm not sure what the hell you mean by 'everything'." Cid looked at Cloud a bit uneasily. 

"About Dr. Stephen's involvement with Nibelheim and Hojo's experiments." 

"Yeah...?" 

Cloud glanced at Cid. The pilot looked acutely uncomfortable. It was if Cid desperately wanted to ask some questions but didn't know how to go about it. Cloud found the sight of the notoriously blunt pilot trying to be tactful rather funny. 

"Come on, Cid. Just spit it out. If I can give you a honest answer, I will." 

Cloud's encouragement only seemed to fluster Cid more. Finally, the pilot said, "I guess it was... pretty bad." 

"Yes. It was." He glanced at his friend, then he pulled off a glove and held up his wrist. "Tell me, Cid. What do you see?" 

"Huh?" From Cloud's expression, he knew it wasn't a trivial question. He took a hard look at Cloud's wrist but couldn't see anything unusual. It was strong and muscular as one might expect from an expert swordsman and a bit pale because it was usually protected from the sun. 

The pilot shrugged and said, "Nothing special." 

"I told you that I couldn't remember much, right?" 

"Uh huh." 

"But I do remember some things. I remember hurting so bad, I wanted to die. But locked inside a glass cage, there's not much you can do. No way to hang yourself. Nothing sharp." He glanced down at the strong, unscarred wrist. "So I used the only thing I had. I tore open my wrist with my bare teeth. Just like a wild animal caught in a trap." He shrugged. "It didn't work. Even though I got the artery, it stopped bleeding in less than a minute. People with Jenova-enhanced bodies don't die that easily. Certainly not from such minor injuries. It takes a hell of a lot worse to put SOLDIERs out of commission." Cloud gave Cid a level stare. "You might want to keep that in mind for future reference." 

Cid stiffened, then said slowly, "You heard us when I was talking to Red and Barret on deck earlier." 

"Yes." 

"Cloud, I...." Cid stopped when he saw a rueful smile on Cloud's face. 

"What, Cid? Do you expect me to be upset?" 

"Well, actually...." The pilot nervously rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Come on. With my track record, I'm just surprised that you guys are even willing to have me hanging around, much less as your leader." 

Cid snapped. "Give me a fucking break, Cloud! Even with your whacked out memory and other problems, you're probably better at leading this group of jokers than anybody else! And all of us know it!" 

Cloud grinned faintly, then he abruptly sobered. "Oh, right! I did a great job. Last time, I led you guys right to the Black Materia and to Sephiroth. And see how that ended up. Aeris died, Sephiroth came damn close to becoming a god, and Meteor nearly demolished the entire Planet!" 

"Yeah. But the operative terms here are 'damn close' and 'nearly'. In short, Cloud, those things DIDN'T happen. And why? Because you managed to talk us into actually doing something about the end of the world instead of just sitting around and moaning about it!" 

"He's right. Urp...." 

Cloud spun around to see Yuffie leaning up against the wall, looking her usual shade of sickly green. Behind her was Cait Sith and Red. In fact, all his friends AND the Turks were on the bridge looking at him. 

"Uh...." He glanced uneasily at Cid, who gave him a slight shake of the head. He felt shamefully relieved that the others had only heard the last few bits of conversation and not the earlier part about his futile suicide attempt. 

"You guys.... One would think that you'd know better by now." 

Tifa said, "Listen, Cloud. We're not stupid. We're not blindly following you. We know you've got problems. But we still trust you to do what's right." 

"Maybe you shouldn't." 

Cait Sith said airily, "It's our decision, right? You're not forcing us to do anything. It's our choice." 

Red added, "Cloud, we're trusting you to do the right thing. Please trust US to do what's right, also. For you and for everyone else." 

Cloud gave them all, particularly Cid and Red, a very serious look. 

"Is that a promise?" 

The pilot and the beast exchanged long, solemn stares before looking at Cloud. They silently nodded. 

Cloud took a deep breath. "Believe me, I'm holding you to that." 

"Yeah! Friends watch out for each other," said Barret. 

Everyone then turned and looked at the Turks. 

Rude shrugged. "Hell, I didn't catch the finer points in all this, but you seem to know what you're doing. It's cool." 

Elena said simply, "You're our best shot for finding what the hell's happened to Reno. Or for finding who's responsible." 

Cloud shook his head ruefully. "All right, all right! You got your point across." He glanced out the window and saw North Corel fast approaching. 

"All right, the first order of business is for everyone to grab something to eat and get some rest. Tomorrow, we go back to Nibelheim and take that place apart. Brick by brick, if we have to." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3e: A BRIEF RESPITE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

It was a short walk from the Highwind's mooring site to North Corel. Over the last year, the town was slowly being rebuilt. Instead of shabby tents, most of the people were now living in sturdy houses. On the porch of one of the newer houses, a little girl waved wildly, hopping up and down with impatience. Finally, she dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Tifa's legs. 

"You're here! You're here!" 

Tifa ruffled Marlene's hair. "Come on! I was here just a few weeks ago." 

The little girl pouted. "But it's boring when you're not here!" 

"Hey! You saying your old man is boring?" Barret bellowed in mock anger. 

Marlene giggled and demanded a ride on her father's shoulders. 

Cid snorted. "Man, you're gonna spoil her rotten." 

"Like you don't?" Yuffie teased. 

"So, where are we going to stay?" Cloud glanced at his friends. Counting the Turks and himself, that was ten people. There was no way they were all going to fit into Barret's charming but modestly sized house. 

Cid shrugged, "I'll stay on the Highwind. Plenty of room there. How about the rest of you?" 

Vincent said quietly, "I'll spend the night on board." 

Yuffie turned green at the mere thought. "NO! No way! Not me!" 

The pilot said acidly, "How the hell can you get motion sick if the damned ship isn't even moving!?" 

"Yes, it is! It's swaying in the wind...." 

Cid rolled his eyes and said, "You're so pathetic." 

Yuffie yelled, "I can't help it if these things make me sick, you jerk!" She turned and said, "Right, Cloud?" 

Engrossed in his conversation with Barret, Cloud absently replied, "Sorry, but I've never been motion sick." 

"Huh!?" Yuffie looked flabbergasted. "EXCUSE ME!?" However, no one seemed to be playing much attention to the ninja girl's antics. 

Cloud turned to the others. "Guys, Barret says that there's a house just a few doors down where we can stay." 

"Yeah. It's a big place but Jake's the only guy staying there at the moment. And he said that he's willing to spend the night with some friends so we can have the place to ourselves." 

"Great!" Tifa's stomach growled loudly. 

"I heard that, Tifa." Elmyra, Aeris' adoptive mother emerged onto the porch. Aeris' death had visibly aged her, leaving new lines on her face. But taking care of Marlene seemed to have given the older woman some measure of contentment. 

"Oh dear. I wasn't expecting such a large crowd for dinner, but I'll manage something." 

Tifa said, "Let me help you." 

"Thanks, dear. What about the rest of you ladies?" 

Yuffie gave Cloud one last bewildered look, then shrugged. "Sure." 

Elena looked embarrassed as she hastily blurted out, "Sorry. I'd just get in your way." 

Rude chuckled, "Elena's idea of cooking is to stuff something into a microwave...." 

The blond Turk blushed furiously and turned on her companion. "You jerk!" 

Rude wasn't really paying attention to her. In a thoughtful voice, he added, "Now Reno... He's one hell of a gourmet cook." 

Cloud looked startled. "Really? This I've got to see for myself." 

Rude smiled grimly. "With luck, you will." 

------------------------- 

After a simple but excellent meal, everyone scattered to either grab some sleep or simply chat. Cid and Vincent headed back to the Highwind, accompanied by Rude. Barret picked a yawning Marlene and carried her back to his own house. 

Cait Sith found Elena working on a cigarette in the backyard. 

"I didn't know you smoked." 

The blond Turk muttered, "I quit. But I need every little bit of relaxation I can get right now." 

"Have you thought about my suggestion?" 

"What? Oh, helping you at Midgar? I don't know. I was never much into the paper-pushing... sorry, the research side of things. Reno, Rude and I... we're more 'hands-on' sort of people. Now Tseng was different. He was a lot more into the intellectual side of things." She sighed sadly. 

"You really miss him." 

"Yes. I... liked him a lot." Even though she knew that she was actually talking to Reeve, there was something about that silly little cat robot that made it really easy to confide in. It was like whispering secrets to a stuffed toy. 

------------------------- 

Back at the Highwind II, Cid was enjoying the cool night air when Vincent suddenly spoke up behind him and nearly made him swallow his cigarette. 

"So the matter's settled. For now." 

"Shit! Vince, don't sneak up on a guy like that! And what do you mean?" 

"Cloud." 

"Oh that. Yeah. Well, we all pretty much put our cards on the table. Now maybe we can get down to business instead of pussyfooting around." Cid looked grim. "I wish I could say that Cloud was just being paranoid. But I can't. We all know what happened last time." 

Rude stepped out on deck. "Yeah. Tell me what happened 'last time'." 

"Why the hell do you wanna know?" Cid muttered. 

"Listen. We're coming along for the ride. I want to know what Elena and I are getting into. Are there any problems that we should know about?" 

Cid stared at the Turk thoughtfully, then glanced at Vincent. The dark man nodded silently. 

The pilot ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. "All right. I'll explain the situation about Cloud. But this fucking well better not go any further. Is that clear?" 

Rude scowled, "Listen, we Turks have got professional ethics, okay?" 

"Fine. Just make sure Elena keeps her mouth shut, too." 

The Turk nodded. 

Cid took a long drag at his cigarette and said, "Cloud's scared that someone or something might start mucking with his mind." 

"Say what!?" 

Cid went on to give Rude a quick summary of the momentous events of a year ago -- the pursuit of Sephiroth, Hojo's experiments, the Black Materia, Meteor... all of it. He didn't go too deeply into details, but told Rude just enough to give him an idea of what they were facing with respect to Hojo and Jenova... and the potential complications involving Cloud. 

Five cigarettes later, Cid finished by saying, "So that's how things stand at the moment." 

Rude looked a bit stunned. "Shit.... I don't know whether you guys are incredibly brave or incredibly stupid." 

"Heh. Probably both." 

"And given what you've just told me about Cloud, you guys are still willing to follow him?" 

"Yup." Cid gave Rude a mocking look. "Got a problem with that? You know, you don't need to come with us. I'm sure Reeve could use you back in Midgar." 

Rude muttered, "Like hell." The Turk then frowned. "So... if something does goes wrong with Cloud, what are YOU going to do about it?" 

Cid smiled grimly, "What I fucking well have to. Red and I, we made a promise to Cloud. He's trusting us to do whatever is necessary." 

"Even kill him?" Rude looked rather skeptical. 

"I sure as hell hope that we won't have to. But if it comes to that.... Damn it, Rude! I'd be glad to risk my neck to save a good friend. That's my business and my choice. I'm sure as hell not going to give up on Cloud or abandon him at the first sign of trouble. But I also know that given a choice between saving innocent lives and his own, I fucking well know which one Cloud would choose." 

Vincent spoke up for the first time. "And you may want to consider this. What's worse? Being dead or existing as someone else's puppet? You'd better think about that question carefully because there's no telling what the enemy might be doing to Reno." 

--------------------------- 

Something poked Reno hard in the side. 

"Go away," he mumbled. For some reason, he REALLY did not want to wake up. 

He got poked again. Harder. He curled up and tried to ignore it. 

Something grabbed him by the throat and hauled him into the air. 

That definitely woke him up. 

Opening his bleary eyes, he saw... Hojo? Except this Hojo was green, had all these fucking tentacles, and incredibly ugly bug eyes.... The memories of yesterday hit Reno with a thud. 

"Oh shit...." 

"Hello, Reno...." Hojo leaned uncomfortably close to the Turk and smiled, exposing a mouthful packed full with small, needle-like teeth. 

Reno had always prided himself on keeping his cool no matter the situation, but this was too much even for him.... 

(Oh... my... god....) 

------------------------- 

After wandering around and casually talking to all his friends, Cloud ended alone on the porch. 

(Reeve's shut down Cait Sith for the night. Tifa, Yuffie, and Elena are sharing a room. Barret's back home with Marlene. Rude went with Cid and Vincent back to the Highwind. Red's curled up on the living room rug.) 

He stared up at the starry sky and let his thoughts drift. 

(Well, the troops seem settled in for the night. I hope they'll be ready for a lot of hard, unpleasant work tomorrow....) 

He stiffened. Checking up on his friends and the Turks... assessing each person's mood.... It had the feel of a familiar routine. 

// But it's something you've simply got to do,   


// especially if you're trying to deal with   


// a bunch of highly talented but eccentric  


// individuals. // 

It had once been his job to make sure all the individuals in the troop worked together smoothly, leaving his superior officer free to concentrate on strategy and tactics. Now it was his job again. 

Cloud rubbed his forehead and frowned. 

(I've done this lots of times before, but when....?) 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3f: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - CLOUD ON THE HORIZON  
------------------------------------------------------ 

"That's the last of the boxes, sir." 

Back in Midgar, Reeve eyed the towering stack of documents with distaste. "Well, there goes my evening." Turning to the security guard, he said, "Thanks, Beddoes. Just dump them over by the table. That'll be all tonight." 

"Yes sir." 

As the security guard turned to leave, his eye was drawn to the file photo clipped to a folder recently dumped on Reeve's desk by his personal assistant Max. Beddoes' expression turned ugly as he swore under his breath. 

Reeve glanced up in surprise. "What was that?" 

"Uh, sorry, sir. Didn't mean to snoop." 

Now curious, Reeve walked over and said, "What's wrong?" 

"Just noticed the picture, sir." 

Reeve had almost forgotten about his request for Cloud's file. He picked up the folder and took a casual look at the picture. It was definitely a younger Cloud. The spiky blond hair and the face was unmistakable. The only noticeable difference was that in this photo, the blue eyes didn't have that familiar Mako glow. 

Glancing at Beddoes, Reeve said, "You know Cloud?" 

"Cloud?" The security guard looked confused. 

"Cloud Strife." 

"Oh! Yeah, I knew Strife." Under his breath, he muttered, "The little bastard." 

"What's the problem?" 

"Uh...." Beddoes shuffled his feet uneasily. "Excuse me for asking but... do you have business with this guy?" 

Reeve blinked and said, "You... could say that." 

"If you don't mind a little advice, sir.... I really think I should warn you. Whatever you do, never take your eyes off the backstabbing little prick." 

Reeve inhaled sharply and bit back an instinctive urge to defend his friend. He merely said, "'Backstabbing' sounds a bit... harsh." 

"No, it ain't." Under the stress of emotion, Beddoes' language was slipping. "I've got a four inch long scar just above my left kidney to prove it." 

"What!?" 

"Funny, I didn't think he'd have the guts do anything like that...." 

"Huh...?" 

"You know, there are some guys who are doers and there are some guys who are just talkers. I had the jerk pinned as a talker. You know, a guy who says a lot but never carries it through? He was always talking big about how he was going be some bigshot SOLDIER and how the girls were going to be all over him... that sort of crap. Well, it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was no way that this stupid, cowardly little runt was going to make it into the program. And when he did get officially bounced... well, I ragged him pretty hard about it." 

Reeve looked both stunned and fascinated. "So what happened?" 

"He got really pissed off. Like I said, I didn't expect him to have the guts to do anything about it. Boy, I was wrong. I was alone in an alleyway a few days later. He was waiting for me. Slashed me a good one with a knife and probably would have done worse if he'd gotten the chance." 

"Why didn't you report it?" 

"Well, it... that is...," Beddoes stammered. 

Reeve's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess, you had some unauthorized business going on. What was it? Drugs? Blackmarket? Sex?" 

"Hey! It wasn't anything like that! It was just that...." 

"Listen, I'm not interested in what you were doing. Keep going." 

"Well, yeah. Let's just say that I was sort of in a bad position myself so I told the cops that it was a mugger. Strife and I, we both kept our mouths shut and we both watched our backs until Strife transferred to another unit. And good riddance." 

Reeve stared blankly at Beddoes for a long moment. He managed to get his wits together and said, "Are you sure we're talking about the same guy? Cloud Strife?" 

"Sure. Not that many people with that sort of freaky yellow hair. Does he still raise bloody hell if you don't call him by his last name?" 

"You mean 'Strife'?" 

"Yeah. Man, you wouldn't believe what a pain in the butt he could be about it. I guess it made him feel mean and scary. So... what's the runt been up to in the last couple of years?" 

Reeve dazedly thought, (Saving the world from destruction and Sephiroth but nothing really important....) 

"Uh... listen, sir. You look like you don't believe me." 

"It's... it's not that...." 

"Hey, you don't have to take my word for it. Just ask anyone who served with the little asshole for any period of time. I'll bet a week's pay that they could tell you some pretty interesting stories about the guy...." 

"Really...." At this point, Reeve was feeling as if someone had just clobbered him on the head with a two ton anvil. 

"I got to say that he wasn't bad at the military stuff. But troopers are supposed to be team players, you know? We're supposed to work together. Buddies and all that. But he was always a loner. Like he was too good to hang around with the rest of us." 

Reeve again picked up the folder. But as he took a closer look at Cloud's photo, he could see more striking differences besides the lack of Mako eyes. Working in the cutthroat world of Shinra management for so many years, Reeve had become quite good at reading people... and what he saw in the picture disturbed him. 

There was a sullenness and hostility in the young Cloud's gaze, mixed with what Reeve considered an unhealthy amount of bitterness.... The Cloud of six years ago was an angry teenager with one hell of a chip on his shoulder. Without even looking inside the file, the Shinra exec had an unhappy suspicion about what he would find. 

Almost in a trance, he shuffled through the papers on his desk and pulled out a recent picture of Cloud. The young man in the photo looked just a bit startled, but had a hint of a grin on his face. Reeve remembered that moment quite well. It had been a combination housewarming party for Barret and surprise birthday party for Elmyra. Cait Sith had snuck around that entire day, ambushing his friends and taking pictures. 

Even though he was smiling in this recent photo, Cloud's eyes were still haunted by sadness and old grief... by past tragedies and losses. That was only to be expected, considering what his friend had gone through. But the corrosive hostility and bitterness that was so obvious in Cloud's earlier picture was totally absent. 

(If there was a person who had cause for bitterness and anger -- between what Sephiroth and Hojo did to him.... and Aeris' death -- it would be Cloud. But....) 

Instead, Reeve saw a quiet but fierce determination that spoke of terrible trials endured and unspeakable ordeals survived. This was the Cloud he knew. The man he had chosen to follow.... 

The recent photo and the old file photo were both of Cloud. That was indisputable. But the difference between the likable yet haunted young man of today and the angry teenager of over six years ago could not be explained in terms of mere physical maturity.... 

Reeve put down the folder, poured a cup of coffee, handed it to the security guard, and said, "Tell me more...." 

--------------------------- 

After talking to Beddoes for over an hour, Reeve leaned back into his chair and sighed. 

(It doesn't fit. It just doesn't fit.) 

Beddoes had painted a picture that simply did not match the Cloud Strife he knew... the man who had led all of them through the worst that Sephiroth and JENOVA could throw at them. 

Reeve wasn't fool enough to take just Beddoes' word. It was just possible that the man held a grudge against Cloud for all these years. However, Reeve was fairly sure the man was telling the truth as he knew it. As he skimmed through Cloud's personnel file, Reeve's expression became steadily grimmer as an ugly picture began to emerge. 

Beddoes was right. It wasn't that the young Cloud had lacked the raw ability to be a good soldier. His scores in physical activities were actually quite good, given that Cloud was on the small side. 

It was the attitude... and the young Cloud's attitude had stunk. It hadn't been too bad in the beginning, but even Reeve's lack of military experience didn't keep him from easily seeing the pattern as time went on -- the worsening performance ratings, the lack of promotions, the increasing number of demerits... the record is littered with disciplinary problems. 

Immediately after Cloud's rejection from the SOLDIER program -- just about six months before Sephiroth's mission to Nibelheim -- there were a whole slew of reprimands and punishment details... and not for just minor infractions of regulations. However, after Cloud's second official warning about his performance and a transfer into another unit, he had apparently settled down. Cloud certainly hadn't become a model trooper, but he stopped making waves and did his job. That was the only thing important to Shinra. 

Reeve suddenly choked on his coffee as his eye caught a minor two-line notation. 

"DAY Q, MONTH R, YEAR S: Complaint by prostitute for rape and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Details only partially verifiable. Complaint subsequently dropped." 

Reeve stared blankly at the page, then suddenly grabbed a pad of paper. He quickly went back through the file, scribbling down a list of names -- Cloud's fellow troopers, drill sergeants, training instructors, superior officers.... Just as Beddoes had suggested, he would talk to anyone who had had worked with Cloud during those years... and he'd have plenty of questions to ask. 

Setting that list aside, he eyed the attached computer disk which had security flags stamped all over it... Cloud's assessment as a candidate for the SOLDIER program. He took one look at the number of files on the disk and yanked it from his computer. He rubbed his burning eyes. 

(Oh god, I can't deal any more tonight. Tomorrow morning....) 

There was another folder on his desk, a fat one with even more security labels tacked all over it. Attached to the cover was a photo of a smiling young man with dark, spiky hair. His brown eyes had a bright green-gold Mako glow. The name on the folder read, "Zackary Faelan, Major, SOLDIER First Class". 

"So this is Zack...." Reeve blinked. The man looked familiar. Suddenly, Reeve smacked his forehead and muttered, "I'm such an idiot! Of course I've seen this guy before!" 

Reeve had had little involvement with Shinra's military branch. But occasionally, the higher ranking officers would be called into board meetings for various reasons. He recalled seeing Sephiroth a few times... a tall, exceptionally handsome man with icy green eyes that seemed to burn right through a person. Sephiroth had such a domineering presence that everyone else just seemed to fade into the background... like a certain dark-haired SOLDIER who usually accompanied Sephiroth. 

That SOLDIER had been Zack. 

Despite his weariness, Reeve's curiosity got the better of him. He opened Zack's file and started reading. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3g: TRUTHS IN THE NIGHT  
------------------------------------------------------ 

....dreams... memories... whatever.... 

"Are the troops ready?" 

"Yes, but...." 

"But what?" 

"Maddock and Curtis. They've gotten into an argument over a native woman." 

His superior officer was visibly annoyed. "Were they fighting over her?" 

"Not actually fighting, but it was close. She was deliberately egging them on." 

"I see. Do you think she's an enemy agent?" 

"Probably. She was too cool about the whole thing." 

His superior officer turned his attention back to the maps. "Will there be a problem getting rid of her?" 

"No. It's just hormones on the men's part. Now if they were in love with her," he shrugged, "that would be an entirely different problem...." 

His boss snorted in contempt. 

"I sent Maddock on an errand back to the supply depot. Curtis is scheduled to go on recon this morning. I'll dispose of her after he leaves. All they'll know is that she took the opportunity to escape back to her people." 

"Good. Tonight, we're going to pay a surprise visit to the enemy arsenal. Lord Godo is about to kiss most of his weapon stockpile good-bye." 

He grinned. "Yes, sir." 

--------------------------- 

Cloud's lips quirked upward in his sleep. 

--------------------------- 

....more dreams... more memories... more whatever.... 

He was sitting in a small confined space enclosed by clear walls. Hojo was pacing back and forth outside, talking... always talking. 

"I don't understand it at all! How did you do it? How did someone like you managed to kill Sephiroth... my masterpiece!" 

Anger and pain simmered in his soul, but he hid the emotions with long practice. He yawned ostentatiously and said in a bored voice, "I already told how it happened. I've been telling you the same thing for the last two years. I managed to knock him over the edge of the catwalk. It's as simple as that." 

"Oh, I don't think it's nearly that simple. Those broken bones, the internal injuries, that wound through your abdomen.... You're not telling me everything." 

He glared at Hojo. "Oh, now isn't that a big surprise?" 

"It had to be you, unlikely as it seems. The other one...." Hojo snorted with contempt. "There's no way he could have managed to destroy Sephiroth. And that only leaves you." 

"Wow. What a masterpiece of deductive reasoning," he shot back sarcastically. 

The scientist stopped pacing and stared at him. Even after all this time, he had not given an inch... surrendered nothing. He refused to give Hojo the satisfaction. 

Hojo resumed pacing. "I need to know everything about Sephiroth!" 

He smiled. "So, no success in your projects so far, Hojo?" 

Hojo glared at him. "But I'm close! You'll see." In a distracted voice he muttered, "They'll all see." 

The scientist stopped pacing again. Hojo leaned forward toward the glass and said softly, "I want to know. Just what was between you and Sephiroth?" 

"That's none of your damn business," was the cool reply. 

"Oh, it's very much my business." 

"You've got one hell of a dirty mind, Hojo." 

--------------------------- 

Cloud awoke with a start. He stared up at the plastered ceiling, struggling to remember his dream. But it was useless. The images and sounds slipped away from his memory, back into that bottomless pit of his subconscious. 

"Damn it!" 

--------------------------- 

During the night, Yuffie slipped out of the bedroom she was sharing with Tifa and Elena. Both women were exhausted and didn't hear her leave. She made her way outside, ducked behind a shed, and called her father. 

A woman answered. Yuffie grimaced as she recognized the voice of her least favorite of her father's concubines. 

"Minmei, I want to talk to my father." 

"He's sleeping," came the snooty reply. 

"Then wake him up," Yuffie said in an remarkably even voice. 

"What an outrageous request! I certainly will not! He gets so grumpy if he doesn't get his rest." 

"Minmei, I'm not asking, nor is this a request. This is business. Now get my father on the phone." 

Flustered by the soft menace in Yuffie's voice, Minmei muttered, "Oh, very well." 

"Oh, and Minmei...." 

"Yes?" 

"Don't you EVER try to block my access to my father again. I don't care if he's screwing another one of his concubines. If I want to talk to him, you WILL put me through. Is that clear? Because if you don't, you and I will have a long, painful talk. Got it?" 

"....yes...." 

"Good. Remember this. I'm the next Lady of Wutai. Don't piss me off." 

"...." 

A few minutes later, a grumpy male voice muttered, "Yah...." 

"Father?" 

"Yuffie, what the hell do you want? Do you realize what time it is?" 

"I need to know something. You bumped into Sephiroth during the war, didn't you?" 

There was a long silence. Finally, Lord Godo replied, "A few times. I only encountered him in battle once. Once was enough." They both knew what he was referring to -- the last one-on-one battle between Godo and Sephiroth that basically ended the war in Wutai. "I saw him a few times afterward, during the surrender. Why do you ask?" 

"Do you remember if there was a dark-haired SOLDIER that hung around him?" 

"Hmmmm. No... wait. Yes, there was." 

"One that carted around a huge two-handed broadsword?" 

"Yes. In fact the only other person I've seen recently who's capable of really using that sort of weapon is that blond-haired man...." 

"Cloud. Yeah, I know. Do you remember anything else about that dark-haired SOLDIER beside the sword." 

"Hmph. Well, if I recall correctly, he was quite good. Surprisingly fast, even with that huge weapon. A very dangerous opponent, he was. Cut quite a swathe of death through our men. Hmmm." 

"What is it?" 

"They had a nickname for him. What was it?" Yuffie's father muttered to himself for a few minutes. 

"Well?" she said impatiently. 

"Ah yes. I believe the other Shinra SOLDIERs often referred to him as... ah, 'Sephiroth's shadow'. It seemed to be some sort of in-joke...." 

Yuffie inhaled sharply and her knuckles whitened on the phone. 

"....Probably because he always seemed to follow Sephiroth around. Have you heard it before?" her father asked. 

"I've... heard the phrase before. But it wasn't exactly as a joke." 

Lord Godo sighed wearily. "Did you wake me up from a good night's sleep just to pick my brains about the Wutai war?" 

In a distracted voice, she said, "Thanks, Dad. Talk to you later." 

Yuffie hung up and slowly pocketed the phone. She whispered, "Sephiroth's shadow...." It was so strange that a single phrase could mean very different things. For Zack, the phrase has apparently been a testament of his loyalty, but for Cloud, those two words were the mark of a dark and terrible slavery.... 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 3h: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - THE OTHER PLAYER  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The sky was becoming light by the time Reeve finished going through Zack's personnel file. It was fascinating reading. Several things had jumped out at him. 

First, Zack was good... very, VERY good. The mere fact that Zack had been Sephiroth's right hand man for nearly four years made THAT point abundantly clear. Sephiroth would have never tolerated anything less than absolute excellence. 

Second, Zack appeared to get along well with people and was in turn well liked. That was obvious from all the recommendations and glowing evaluation reports in the file. Besides, anyone who could deal with someone as arrogant and demanding as Sephiroth on a day-to-day basis had to have a remarkably easy-going personality or the patience of a saint. 

But Zack was definitely no saint. From the reports in the file, Reeve knew that the SOLDIER had carried out his missions with calm, ruthless determination. It was probably that same ruthless efficiency that had probably attracted Sephiroth's attention in the first place. Zackary Faelan was a killer, probably one of the finest that Shinra's SOLDIER program had ever produced... excluding Sephiroth, of course. But Sephiroth didn't count. Hojo's son had been in a class entirely of his own. 

But there was a subtle pattern here that he was missing.... Some instinct told him that there had been more going on than revealed by the dry, factual reports and data in the file. But what was it? 

Reeve made another note -- to find any SOLDIERS who had served with Zack -- then he crawled off to grab a few hours of sleep. 

(end of Part 3) 

********************************************************************** 

In part 4-5,   


- Back to glorious, gory old Nibelheim 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	4. COI Part 4

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 02/10/99 

======================================================================  


CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  


PART 4: CONSPIRACIES OF SILENCE & OMISSION  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

---------------  
Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects 

********************************************************************** 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4a: SHARP EDGES OF THE PAST  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Just after sunrise the next day, Red went looking for Cloud. The beast found his friend in the back yard, indulging in a little early morning sword practice. He watched as Cloud moved easily through a complex series of blocks and attacks, wielding the huge Buster sword like it was a twig. When Cloud finished the exercise, he was barely breathing hard. He shouldered the blade and walked over to the bench where Red was waiting. 

"Why are you using that old sword for practice when you have the Ultima Weapon?" the beast asked in a curious voice. 

Cloud smiled and said, "I like the variety. It keeps me on my toes. Besides, it's not good to overspecialize. You never know when you're going to get stuck with something else. It's always good to have options." 

Red reached out a paw and tapped the lethal-looking combat knife lying on the bench. 

"Is that why you also carry this?" 

"Yeah." Cloud picked up the knife, tossed it into the air. As it fell, he effortlessly snagged the spinning blade in midair and slid it into its sheath on his back in a single fluid movement. He then picked up a whetstone and methodically started to work on the Buster sword. His more powerful weapons never seemed to require sharpening, but the Buster sword frequently needed to be honed to the proper edge. 

Red found the rasp of stone on steel an oddly soothing sound. "That sword...." 

Cloud's hands stopped moving. "Yes. This was Zack's. I think it was some sort of family heirloom. But the sword he actually used was considerably more powerful. It was more on the lines of my Crystal Sword or Ragnarok. I think Zack said his sword was called 'Blood Scythe'. I wonder whatever happened to it...." His voice trailed off, then he tapped the Buster Sword. "But this sword was a gift from his uncle so he took it with him wherever he went." 

"May I examine it?" 

"Sure." Cloud held out the Buster Sword. Taking the hilt in his jaws, Red grunted with effort. Even with his massive shoulders and jaws, he definitely felt the effort required to hold the length of the sword parallel to the ground. 

He gently dropped the sword back into Cloud's hands and said, "I didn't realize it was so heavy. You make it look very easy." 

Cloud stared down at the dull dark metal of the sword. "Yeah. If it wasn't for the fact that I've got the same sort of body as a SOLDIER, I'd have problems just carting it around, much less using it." He picked up the huge blade and twirled easily it with one hand. 

He resumed his work with the whetstone. "So what's up, Red?" 

Red scratched behind an ear, then said quietly, "I wanted to discuss certain parts of your past." 

Cloud gave him a quick, sideways glance but continued working on the Buster Sword. "Let me guess. You've got questions about what happened in Nibelheim." 

"Or to be more precise, what happened after the first destruction of your hometown." Red shook his head sadly. "If being razed to the ground once was not bad enough... to have it happen twice...." 

"Go on." Cloud's words were clipped and short, but there was no hostility or reluctance in his voice. 

"And I wanted the chance to speak to you alone." 

"Why?" 

Red looked a bit uncomfortable. "I hate to say it but Tifa...." 

Cloud smiled faintly. "Tifa gets a little overprotective of me sometimes. I've noticed." 

"Does it bother you?" 

"Bother me? Why should it?" 

Red's flame-tipped tail twitched. "Well, I don't have too much experience in that area but in Cosmo Canyon, young men often get annoyed when they think females worry too much about them.... They apparently think that it reflects poorly on their masculinity." 

Cloud snorted softly. "Yeah. That's probably true. But no, it doesn't bother me. It's... sort of nice to have someone who cares enough to worry about me and how I feel." 

Red frowned. "But surely your mother...." 

"Oh yeah, Mom worried about me, but she was never quite with the program, so to speak." 

The beast cocked his head slightly. "Pardon?" 

"She wasn't what I'd call... very perceptive. I mean, she was pretty good dealing with the obvious, physical things. Was I getting enough to eat? Was I hot or cold? Was I sick? That sort of stuff. But she never really understood me on the inside. If I said I was lonely, she'd say that I just needed to find some nice playmates. And when I was older, she'd say that I only needed a nice girlfriend. It was so simple to her. She never told me how I could get the other kids to like me... or how to get a girl to care...." Both his voice and the rasp of the sharpening stone faded into silence. 

Red tipped his head up to look Cloud eye to eye. "If the situation wasn't so serious, I wouldn't press the issue. But given how matters stand...." 

"I know, Red. I'm sure you're not asking just to be nosy. And I really wish I could help you." 

Red found the quiet trust in Cloud's voice oddly humbling. The beast bowed his head and whispered, "Yes. I'm sorry...." 

Cloud reached out and gently rubbed behind Red's ears. "Don't be. It's only fair that you guys should know what you're getting into. The more you understand, the better for all of us. And... I'm sorry I pushed you and Cid so hard about.... Call me a coward, but I really needed to know that... things... would be handled if worst comes to worst." 

Red snorted. "Cloud, of all things on this Planet I could call you, 'coward' would be among the very last." 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." The young man took a deep breath, then said, "Part of the reason I don't like to talk about my past is because I don't remember many details. And when I do remember.... You see, I do recall things. There's just one big problem." 

"Which is?" 

"Those memories often don't stay." 

"Excuse me?" Red's brow wrinkled in confusion. 

"A lot of times, things will come back to me in a flash, but they don't stick around. They come... and then they go." 

Cloud put down the Buster Sword and started to pace nervously. 

"Do you realize what that means, Red? It means that I'm still hiding from the truth. I'm still lying to myself. How can I hope to be honest with my friends if I can't even be honest with myself!" 

He came to an abrupt halt and spun to face the patiently waiting beast. "After my experience with the Lifestream, I thought that I was strong enough to face my real past. But I found out soon enough that I wasn't. There are things that I still can't face or accept." 

Cloud looked away. "What's worse, Red? Not remembering at all or remembering and then forgetting again?" 

"Don't take your inability to remember as a sign of weakness. Sometimes there ARE things and events that are simply too much to cope with. You need to give yourself time...." 

"Red, somehow I've got a feeling that time isn't going cure my particular problem. It might help, but we don't exactly have time to spare here. This mess with the WEAPONS and those Jenova creatures could turn really ugly at any moment. Can I really afford to take time out just to sort out the junk in my head?" 

"You seem to think that a personal problem automatically means that it's a trivial problem." 

A wry grin appeared on Cloud's face. "God knows that it's not trivial to ME, but when compared to what could going on with the Planet and what kind of craziness Hojo might be up to...." 

Red said earnestly, "Cloud, don't underestimate your own importance or value. Cid was right. You had a great deal to do with our success against Sephiroth. And yes, we may be in another battle to save the Planet, but I don't think it's necessary or right to ignore the needs of the individual in the process. We are your friends. We're here to help you. And that includes taking up part of the burden and the responsibility in order to give you some breathing room if you need it." 

The beast walked up to Cloud. "Part of your problem is that you're so busy being worried about others, you forget to be worried about yourself. Be fair to yourself for a change. Treat yourself with as much consideration as you treat others." 

Red hesitated a bit before continuing, then he took a deep breath and plunged on. "Stop blaming yourself for what happened with Sephiroth and Aeris. It wasn't your fault. You didn't consciously choose to let Aeris die. You didn't consciously choose to help Sephiroth. Forgive me for being so blunt, but don't let yourself get bogged down in trying to atone for a supposed sin like Vincent has." 

Cloud chuckled weakly. "I hope I'm not quite that bad." 

"It's good that you recognize the problem, at least. No, you're not that bad. Yet." 

"...." 

Red watched his young friend pace slowly back and forth. Finally, Cloud said softly, "I'll try to keep that in mind." 

"Good." 

Although he certainly didn't consider Red inferior in any way, Cloud admitted to himself that it was somehow easier to unburden himself to the four-footed beast than to another human being. 

"Red, I've blocked out so much. I can remember growing up in Nibelheim pretty clearly. But after that? I've got holes in my memory that you could drive a truck through. And the stuff that I do remember? I suppose the truth's in my head, somewhere... but it's buried so deep, there's no telling if I'll ever find it. My memories are such a hash between the stuff I wanted to be true... the stuff Zack told me... the stuff Sephiroth shoved in my head.... Even now, I don't how much of me is stolen from Zack." 

He glanced briefly at Red, who was listening intently with pricked ears. 

"You see, during all that time in Hojo's lab, Zack was there. He'd talk to me whenever he could. Important stuff, silly stuff, anything he could think of. I think it was the one thing that kept me from totally losing all grip of reality. The problem was... when things got really bad, it was easier to pretend to be someone else than deal with the pain. There were times when I hated the inside of my own head and body so badly...." He shuddered. 

Cloud abruptly stopped pacing and shook his head as if to free himself from the memories. He then turned to Red and blurted, "And why have I forgotten so much of the two years BEFORE Nibelheim? My time as a Shinra trooper?" 

"Probably because it contradicted the past that you gave yourself." 

"If that's the case, those memories should be coming back to me. But they're not." He started pacing again. 

"I don't know. A sensible starting point would be to examine your own Shinra personnel records." 

Cloud halted again and frowned. "Why the hell didn't I think of that before?" 

Red said nothing aloud. (Perhaps you were afraid to, my friend.) 

Cloud had apparently come to the same conclusion. He inhaled sharply and grimaced. "Hell, I'm such a coward...." 

Red pounded his forepaw on the ground. "Cloud! Don't be so hard on yourself! It's only natural to avoid experiences you know are painful. Your time in Shinra's army could hardly qualify as the happiest period in your life. For example, when you failed to become a SOLDIER, I'm sure it was a terrible disappointment...." 

Cloud went very still, then he slowly said, "I don't remember." 

"Pardon?" 

He turned to Red and said softly, "I don't remember how I felt." He spoke tentatively, as if cautiously feeling his way over uncertain ground. "I know how I ought to have felt. If I had been so hell-bent on becoming a SOLDIER and failed, it would only make sense that I'd be disappointed and angry, right?" 

Red nodded. 

"But... I don't consciously REMEMBER feeling anything like that." Cloud shook his head. 

"When Sephiroth and Hojo were both playing their vicious little mind games with me, do you know what bothered me the most? It wasn't the idea that I was a Sephiroth clone. It was the thought that I was a failure. I think that hurt most of all. I wasn't good enough... I was worthless.... Those feelings ate at me so badly.... It made the possibility that I was just a creation from Hojo's sick imagination seem like nothing. I don't know. On a subconscious level, I must have remembered the disappointment and the sense of failure... and hated it." 

Cloud's voice dropped to a bare whisper. "By the time those two were through with me, I think I would have done anything... absolutely anything to avoid being a failure again... to accomplish something... even if that meant being a someone else's damned puppet." 

Red softly growled some obscenities under his breath. (If this is what it's like inside Cloud's head, it's no wonder he's desperate to forget everything... including his time as a trooper in Midgar. No matter what Grandpa said, this could be a case where truth does more harm than good.) He nudged Cloud sharply to snap him back to reality. 

"What...?" He grimaced. "I guess now you know why I don't like poking around in my own head very much." 

"It's perfectly understandable, Cloud. There's been such pain in your life, both physical and mental...." 

Unconsciously echoing a distant voice -- or perhaps memory -- in his mind, Cloud murmured very, very softly, "But life IS pain...." 

Even with his acute hearing, Red couldn't quite catch the words. "What did you say?" 

Cloud blinked. "Oh, nothing important." 

He sighed, then turned to pick up his Buster sword. 

"Where are you going?" 

"We probably need to get going. I also want to see if Reeve's had a chance to locate those personnel records." 

Red said, "I'll go wake up the Tifa and the other ladies. You might ask Reeve if he's received any more reports of mysterious attacks or unusual sightings." 

--------------------------- 

Cloud walked around to the porch and found Cait Sith still powered down in a sleeping pose. He gently tugged on the little cat's tail. 

"Time to wake up." 

Cait Sith bolted upright, saw Cloud looking at him, and promptly toppled off his Mog with a little squawk of surprise. The next thing the little cat saw was Cloud crouching beside him with a concerned look in his eyes. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Duh...." 

"Reeve, did you get ANY sleep last night?" 

"Um.... Sort of." The robot cat rubbed its head. 

"Listen. We're all worried about Reno and the cell sample and all that other stuff, but you've got to take better care of yourself. You're not going to do anybody any good by running yourself into the ground." Cloud picked up Cait Sith and plopped it back onto of the Mog's head. 

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that." The little cat dusted itself off and straightened its hat. 

"I really think you need some help back in Midgar. Have you talked to the Turks?" 

The little cat fidgeted nervously. "Well, Elena was telling me last night that she and Rude were more 'hand-on' sorts of people. I think they'd prefer to stick with you guys." 

"Then who else...." 

Cait Sith waved its paws in a dismissive gesture. "No need to rush. I think I can manage for another day or so." 

Cloud shrugged. "If you can handle it, fine. But don't be afraid to ask." 

"Sure thing," Cait Sith chirped. 

Cloud was about to step off the porch, then stopped. "By the way, did you get around to pulling the Shinra personnel files on me and Zack?" 

Back in Midgar, Reeve froze as frantic thoughts zipped through his brain. Watching the thoughtful, concerned look on Cloud's face, Reeve did the only semi-sensible thing he could think of. 

He lied his ass off. 

Cait Sith cheerfully said, "Sorry, I got a hold of Zack's file late last night, but I haven't managed to locate yours just yet. It could have gotten misplaced somehow. Don't worry. I'll track it down eventually." 

Cloud looked half disappointed, half relieved. "Okay. About Zack's file, did you find anything useful?" 

"I'm haven't really had a chance to look at it. There's a lot of stuff in his file, not even counting the cross-references to classified missions and whatnot. It'll take me a while to make any sense out of it." 

"Let us know if you come up with any possible leads. We'll be leaving right after breakfast." 

"No problem-o." The little cat robot gave Cloud an airy wave. 

--------------------------- 

In Midgar, Reeve leaned back into his chair and uttered a low, drawn-out sigh of relief. 

(God, I hope that lie doesn't come back to haunt me.... Twenty four hours at the most... just enough time to do a little investigating....) Reeve had absolutely no intention of letting matters drag on any longer than that. 

(Cloud's been lied to and jerked around enough... He needs to know the truth. But... I'm not looking forward to that job, especially if the file's right.) Considering how unnerving and upsetting HE found the file, Reeve could just imagine Cloud's reaction. 

(No time to waste.) 

Reeve yelled for his personal assistant. "Max, get in here!" 

"Yes sir?" Max replied in a bright, cheerful voice. 

The Shinra exec gave his assistant -- who was definitely a morning person -- a sour look, then shoved two lists of names at him. "I want you to locate the people on these lists. If they're alive, I want to talk to them ASAP. I don't care what it takes." 

"When do you want it...." 

Reeve gave Max a somber look that instantly shut the assistant's mouth. 

"NOW." 

Max babbled, "Right away, sir!" and scurried off. 

Alone in his office, Reeve started scanning the disk containing Cloud's evaluation for the SOLDIER program. He stared at the file directory for a long moment. It looked like most of the data files were psychological tests measuring this mental index and that emotional parameter. 

(Shit! I can barely make heads or tails of all this psycho-babble. But who the hell can I get to help me interpret this garbage?) 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4b: SIBLING RIVALRY  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Dr. Orienne Roissy slowly opened her eyes and squinted at the bright overhead lights. 

"You're awake." The female voice beside her bed was flat and unemotional. 

She turned her head slowly to see her sister Montessi standing by her bed. Roissy whispered, "Where... where is he? The blond man...?" 

Montessi curled her lips in an expression of utter contempt. "Isn't that just like you? You stupidly manage to fall down an elevator shaft and the only thing you can think of is a man." 

Roissy weakly snarled back at her sister, "Hardly. You have no idea what's really going on." 

"Then pray, enlighten me." 

Her sister laughed weakly. "He's alive. Hojo lied to me. He told me Cloud was dead." 

Montessi managed to hide her dismay when she realized that her sister knew that 'Code C' was still alive. She frowned and said, "Well, sister. It seems that your brains have been thoroughly scrambled by that fall. You're not making any sense." 

Roissy smirked. "Shall I tell you a secret, sister dear?" 

"What could you possibly know that would be of interest to me?" 

"Oh, I think you'll be very interested, indeed. Wouldn't you like to know where that last sample of Sephiroth is?" 

Montessi acidly replied, "I don't need you to tell me that. It's probably in Hojo's slimy hands at this very moment." 

"Wrong, wrong, wrong! Poor little Cloud has it." The injured woman uttered a smug little giggle. 

"What!? Are you sure? How do you know that?" 

"Oh, I'm quite positive. I made SURE there was no way for him to lose it." She giggled again, then burst into an incoherent child's song that had something to do with Mogs and nuts. 

Montessi tried to interrupt her sister, but failed. She was forced to wait impatiently until Roissy stopped singing, then gave her sister a narrow-eyed stare. "You mean you put it...." 

"Yup." 

"What a moronic thing to do!" 

Roissy muttered petulantly, "How the hell did I know he was going to scurry away like a little mouse?" Her fingers danced and skipped across the bedsheets. 

Montessi said nothing as an idea began to take form. 

Roissy continued, "Although you better watch yourself if you bump into him. He doesn't like us very much. He's become a naughty, naughty boy. Mad, bad, and dangerous to know... just the way I like them!" Roissy snickered deliriously. 

"Does Savois know?" 

"No. Not yet." Roissy yawned and muttered, "I can't wait to see her face when I tell her." 

"Don't worry about it." Montessi deftly adjusted her sister's pillow. "I'll take care of informing her... in good time." 

When she was through, Montessi checked to make sure that her sister had stopped breathing, then tidied up the bed. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4c: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - WOLF AMONG SHEEP  
------------------------------------------------------ 

A half hour after giving Max the lists of names, Reeve received a phone call from a General Claxmore. It was a familiar name to Reeve. Claxmore was one of the old Shinra military officers -- a gruff, but practical sort of man. Reeve owed him a great deal. The General had been one of the first to support him as the new president of Shinra, a move which had undoubtedly influenced other senior members of the Shinra military. Without his backing, Scarlet would probably be in charge of Shinra at this very moment. 

"General Claxmore." 

"Reeve, your assistant said you needed to speak to me urgently." 

"Yes. I have some questions I'd like to ask you about your nephew. Zackary Faelan." 

There was a long silence. 

"General?" 

"Why?" The question was blunt and sounded none too cooperative. 

"It's very important." 

"He's dead. He died in the Nibelheim fiasco about six years ago." 

Reeve sighed. "General, I have it on very good authority that Zack in fact did NOT die in Nibelheim six years ago." 

In a voice touched with sarcasm, Claxmore said, "You wouldn't be implying that Heidegger and Hojo were lying, would you?" 

Reeve's eyes narrowed, then he said softly, "General, did Zack contact you recently? Say, within the last year or so?" 

"Reeve, why are you asking me about my nephew?" 

The Shinra exec decided to take a gamble. He said quietly, "General Claxmore, I'm sorry to tell you that Zack is dead. But like I said before, he didn't die in Nibelheim six years ago. He died just over one year ago." 

There was another long silence, then Claxmore said in a very even voice, "Reeve, I don't take it kindly when people try to jerk me around...." 

"Listen to me, General. It's the truth. I know what REALLY happened at Nibelheim. I know that Hojo keep your nephew and a friend locked up for nearly five years as his own private guinea pigs. I know that Zack escaped about a year ago...." 

"And you're saying that he... died shortly afterward." 

"Yes." 

Claxmore exhaled slowly. "Well, shit...." 

"Zack did contact you, didn't he?" 

"....yes. After he escaped from Nibelheim, he called me from Costa del Sol." 

"What did he tell you?" 

"Not much. Only that maniac Hojo had him locked up ever since Sephiroth destroyed Nibelheim. He told me that he'd just escaped with a buddy. I wanted to help him -- give him protection and a place to hide -- but he absolutely refused. He said that he didn't want me or the family getting mixed up with Hojo and President Shinra." 

"Did he say where he was going?" 

"Only very generally. I believe he was headed to Mideel. He said something about his friend being really ill. I think he was basically going to drop out of sight until things cooled down. When I didn't hear from him again, I had hoped that he'd gotten away safe." Claxmore's voice sounded old and tired. "I guess he didn't make it." 

"No, he didn't." 

"So what happened?" 

"I'm not entirely sure." 

"What? Reeve...." 

"It's not a trick. The information I have is... sketchy and confused. The exact details of where and how aren't clear. But Zack IS dead. I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything more." 

There was a thoughtful silence, then Claxmore said, "Thanks. But why did you ask me about Zack in the first place?" 

Reeve said, "It appears that when Zack escaped from Hojo's lab, he took something very valuable with him. We're trying to locate that item." 

"What is it?" 

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't tell you at the moment. But I will say that the item has the potential to be unbelievably dangerous. So if you know anything... if Zack gave you the slightest hint... please tell me now. I can't emphasize how urgent this is." 

"I'm sorry. Haven't got a clue. Then again, Zack certainly knew how to keep his mouth shut." 

"Is it possible that he contacted his parents in Gongaga?" 

Claxmore uttered a sour chuckle. "Hardly!" 

"Uh, he didn't get along with his parents?" 

"Listen. Zack was like a wolf born among sheep. He was a nice kid but he could be absolutely ruthless. If you were his friend, his loyalty couldn't be matched. If you were his enemy, well... you could pretty much kiss your ass goodbye. His parents didn't understand him at all. His father wanted him to stay around Gongaga raising whatever crap they grow in that blasted jungle." 

"I see. That explains why he didn't contact his parents for so long." 

"How did you...?" 

"My friends and I visited Gongaga not too long ago. We ran into Zack's parents." 

"It wasn't that he didn't care about his parents, but there was no common ground between them. As soon as he was old enough, Zack left for Midgar and never looked back." 

"And joined SOLDIER." 

"Yes." 

"Where he met Sephiroth...." 

"That's right." Claxmore sighed. 

"And became his second-in-command." 

"Rather more than that, I think." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Even when sane, Sephiroth wasn't exactly a likable person...." 

Reeve muttered under his breath, "You're telling me!" 

"....but he had a great deal of personal charisma. Big war hero and all that. But in Zack's case, I don't think it had anything to do with hero worship. It had everything to do with respect and friendship. And I don't think it was one-sided, either." 

"Oh?" Reeve just couldn't quite imagine Sephiroth being friendly with anyone. 

"It wasn't anything obvious, of course. But a smart man can tell. You could see it in the way they worked together." 

"When he spoke to you after his escape, did Zack say anything about Sephiroth?" 

"Not a damn thing. It was undoubtedly a very painful subject, given that all of Zack's troubles were basically that lunatic Sephiroth's fault. Having your best friend turn on you.... We really didn't have much time for casual chitchat. The last thing he told me was that he thought he had been spotted by some of Hojo's people." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4d: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - CANKER OF THE SOUL  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As Reeve was taking a short break from his investigations, he took another look through Cloud's file. By now, he had accumulated a staggering number of inconsistencies. 

(I'm no weapons expert, but even an idiot could tell that Cloud's one hell of a swordsman. Come on. Anyone who can stand up to Sephiroth and survive, much less WIN...) 

On the other hand, according to his file, the young Cloud had failed the basic sword training course not once, but twice. The third time appeared to be the charm since he managed to pass with a lukewarm 'satisfactory' rating. The kindest comments were things like "easily carried away" and "sloppy". One instructor even went so far as to write, "Just give this kid a rifle and get him the hell out of here. I don't want him anywhere near me. The idiot has no business playing with edged weapons." 

(So where did Cloud learn to fight? Did Zack teach him while they were prisoners? No. That's damn unlikely. Hojo was crazy but I can't imagine him being stupid enough to allow Zack anywhere near a sword.) 

(And will someone PLEASE explain to me how the hell a kid from a backwater town with NO experience with motor vehicles -- aside from a remedial course on truck driving which he barely passed, I may add -- managed to ride an absolute monster of a motorcycle up and down the stairs of the Shinra Building, drive through a plate glass window, land the bike on an elevated roadway, AND beat off the members of Shinra's crack motorcycle unit?) 

"Argh!" It was nagging questions like these that made Reeve feel like pulling out his hair. 

His assistant stuck his head into the office. "You say something, boss?" 

"Shut up and go away, Max...." 

--------------------------- 

For this particular visitor, Reeve conspicuously left his office door wide open. His visitor was an attractive middle-aged woman, but there was a hardness in her eyes that fitted quite well with her occupation. She was the owner of one of the more notorious whorehouses in the old Midgar slums. He couldn't keep himself from smiling when he saw that the whorehouse madam had much better taste in clothes than Scarlet. 

"So what happened?" 

"The blond, spike-haired punk slashed up one of my girls with a broken bottle." 

"Why?" 

"I think she made a comment about his size of his prick. She was new on the job, but she still should have known better. Especially with these short guys." 

"Oh." 

"He completely blew his top. Cut her up pretty good." 

Reeve said, "She filed assault and rape charges against him, but they were later dropped. Why?" 

"Come on. Surely you know the rules of the game. Do you think the cops cared? And a rape charge? She was just a slum whore and he worked for Shinra. He might have been just a low-ranking trooper, but that's enough. Without any witnesses willing to testify, the girl's word was worth squat against his. Besides, I didn't want trouble when -- not if, but WHEN -- the case against him fell apart." 

"But you knew what happened." 

"Listen, I didn't see him do anything with my own eyes. What could I swear to? Besides, I saw the way he was looking at her at the police station. I didn't want any part of it." 

Reeve sighed in exasperation. "All right. Can I talk to her?" 

"Huh?" 

"The girl who was attacked." 

The madam's eyes shifted uneasily. "Uh... no." 

"Why not?" He never considered himself to be a psychic but an odd little chill ran down his spine. "What happened to the girl?" 

"She left." 

Reeve liked to think of himself as a reasonably nice guy, but he had had plenty of opportunity to observe the masters of intimidation and corruption (otherwise known as the Shinra upper management) at work for years. He knew how to play the game. 

The Shinra executive gave the madam an icy stare and purred, "Really? How remarkably... convenient." 

The woman twitched nervously and muttered, "I don't know what happened to her, okay? She disappeared right after it all happened. Probably got scared of him and ran away. It would have been the smartest thing she could have done. I know the sort... people like him carry a hell of a grudge. I warned her against bringing the damn complaint in the first place, but she did it anyway. She said she wanted to make a point. I don't know why. Hell, she didn't even have any scars." 

"Thank you. That will be all." 

The madam tucked away the wad of gil away in her purse. "Anytime, sweetheart. Are you sure I can't fix you up with a girl?" 

"Thank you, but no. I'm quite sure." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4e: FINDINGS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

After a hearty breakfast, Cloud and his friends returned to the Highwind. As the airship headed for Nibelheim, Cloud and Cid were trying to figure out the best way to distribute their forces. 

Cloud said, "I don't think we're going to find anything useful in the upper floors, so it'll probably be best to concentrate on the basement." 

The pilot muttered, "Yeah... where Hojo did all his dirty work." 

Cloud called the others over. "Okay, I'll take the library with Red, Tifa, and Cait Sith. Barret, you and Rude take a look through the town. See if you can find any clues that might have survived the fire. Can you handle it?" 

He looked Barret straight in the eye. They both knew he wasn't talking about just the search. Barret glanced at Rude, then shrugged. 

"Aw, hell. Sure, no problem." 

Cloud nodded decisively. "Cid...." 

"I guess that means I get Yuffie, Vincent, and Elena. So... what are we supposed to do in the basement? Poke around until we find something interesting? Do you have any idea what the hell we should be looking for?" 

To Cid's surprise, Cloud leaned against the railing and said, "Yeah. Keep an eye out for secret rooms." 

"Huh?" 

"Something's been nagging me about the basement every time I've been in it. I've finally figured out what it was." 

"Go on." 

"It's too small. Somehow... somehow I get the feeling that there's got to be a lot more down there. Hojo had several projects running at the same time. Even if you count the Nibel reactor as part of his work area, the locations we've seen don't add up to nearly enough space." 

Cid scratched his chin. "Shit, you're probably right. Hell, the first couple of times we were down there, we totally missed that trash pit Elena and Rude fell into." 

"That's right." 

The pilot shuffled his feet nervously. "Uh, about the casket room where that Stephen guy...." 

Cloud winced visibly. "I don't see any reason to mess around with it for now." 

Both Cid and Elena sighed in relief. 

As the charred ruins of Nibelheim came into view, Cloud said, "Cait.... Hey, Cait!" 

The little cat jumped and spun around on its Mog. "What... oh, sorry. I was just a bit distracted. I'm... sort of busy in Midgar at the moment. Would you mind if I just park myself in a corner while you guys search the library?" 

Cloud shook his head. "No problem. You concentrate on those personnel files and we'll handle the stuff on this end. By the way, didn't you say something about cleanup crews?" 

Cait nodded. "Yeah. I'll send them in once we're through searching. I don't think we want total strangers trampling around until we've gone through the Mansion with a fine-toothed comb." 

Cloud glanced at the assembled people. "Listen up, guys. Try not to miss anything, but remember, we don't have time to waste. We need answers and we need them now." 

Cid sucked on his cigarette and muttered, "Something's big's just waiting to happen. I can feel it in my bones." 

For once, Yuffie didn't make a crack about Cid and old age. 

--------------------------- 

As Cloud pulled books off the basement library's shelves for Red, Tifa worked her way along the opposite end of the room. She rapped on walls and examined up every little item she came across. It was monotonous work and the room was dark and incredibly depressing. Thankfully, there were no bodies in the library, but the musty air was tainted by the heavy smell of spilled blood. As she gingerly picked up a blood-soaked labcoat, something small and rectangular fell out of a pocket, bounced off her boot, and landed on the floor with a clatter. 

She stared at it blankly before realizing what it was... a small, voice-activated tape recorder, the type commonly used for dictation. Tifa picked it up and said, "Guys! Look what I've found!" 

As her friends looked on, she carefully turned the recorder over in her hands. The outside was caked in dried blood, but the machine looked like it was still in working order. Prying the lid open, she whispered, "And it looks like the tape's been used." She glanced at Cloud. "Do you think....?" 

"Let's give it a shot." 

Tifa hit the rewind button and was rewarded with the sound of whirring tape. When the tape stopped, she hit the play button and cranked up the volume. 

The first ten minutes or so on the tape turned out to be nothing more than an equipment inventory. Just as they were losing hope of anything interesting, there was the sound of stamping feet accompanied by someone swearing vigorously. 

"That sounds like Reno!" exclaimed Tifa. 

RENO: "What a fucking idiot! Hey! Is there a goddamn rope in this place?" 

1ST MALE VOICE: "I'm not sure. Maybe they have some in the moving trucks, Mr. Reno." 

RENO: "Like hell I'm climbing all those stairs. And I told you, it's just Reno. None of that mister crap. You there!" 

2ND MALE VOICE: "Sir?" 

RENO: "Run upstairs and see if anybody's got a couple of hundred feet of rope. If not, go into the town and get some. Considering where we are, someone's bound to have some mountain climbing gear. Get moving!" 

2ND MALE VOICE: "Right away, sir!" 

1ST MALE VOICE: "What happened?" 

RENO: "One of your fuckin' stupid chums managed to dump MY chums down a trash chute! Now I'm going to have listen to Elena bitch and moan until she gets a hot bath...." 

On the tape, there was a distant scream, followed by a loud crash and running footsteps. 

RENO: "What the fuck's going....? SHIT!!!" 

The next few minutes of the tape were filled with the sound of gunfire, thuds, booms, the crackle of a Nightstick, punctuated by the occasional obscenity from Reno. As time passed, the Turk started to sound seriously out of breath. Finally the sounds of fighting died away. There were only a few rustling and shuffling noises, mixed with strange animal-like squeaks, chirps, and grunts. 

An unpleasantly familiar voice, marred with a curious hiss, said, "And what do we have here?" 

Cloud turned pale and gritted his teeth. 

"Cloud...?" Tifa whispered. 

"I'm pretty sure that's Hojo speaking." 

HOJO: Ah, it'ss Reno. That red hair iss quite unmisstakable. What a pleassant ssurprisse. Carefully, carefully! Don't damage him! I want him alive and unharmed." 

There was a brief pause, then Cloud and the others heard the sounds of a struggle accompanied by someone sobbing and whimpering in terror. 

Cait Sith muttered, "That certainly doesn't sound like Reno!" 

Cloud frowned as he listened intently. "I don't think so...." 

HOJO: "Wait. Bring him here." 

There was another pause with more shuffling noises. 

HOJO: Sso, Dr. Sstephen. We meet again." 

STEPHEN: "Hojo! I heard you were dead!" 

HOJO: "And sso I wass. Sso I wass." 

They listened intently to the short conversation between Hojo and Dr. Stephen... a conversation that confirmed their worst fears. Hojo had indeed attacked the ESSARUF facility with the clear intention of using the stolen cell sample to somehow reconstruct Sephiroth. Even worse, the mad scientist already knew about the substitution of cell samples, due to Stephen's careless outburst. Hojo naturally demanded more information. Stephen protested. Finally, the unfortunate Stephen started screaming. His sobs and screeches of agony soon faded in volume, as if the source was moving away from the recorder, but the distant screaming continued on and on..... 

After a few minutes, Cloud abruptly turned the tape recorder off. 

He propped himself against a table and whispered, "Well, I guess that confirms it. Hojo's back." 

Red said, "Cloud, was there really any doubt?" 

"Probably not." 

Cait Sith anxiously hopped and down. "Did you hear what Hojo said!? He mentioned Scarlet! Damn it, is that woman insane!? How can she possibly think of helping Hojo with his crazy schemes?" 

Tifa hissed, "The power-hungry bitch would probably sell her own mother to Hojo if she thought it would give her the slightest advantage." 

The robot cat waved its arms excitedly. "I know that! But how can she reasonably expect Hojo to keep his end of whatever deal they've got? Scarlet can't possibly be that stupid or desperate!" 

Red growled, "It's grim news indeed, but Hojo's also provided us with a vital clue. We now know that he's headed to one of Scarlet's facilities... one with a Mako reactor. Cait...." 

The little cat nodded. "I'll get right on it." 

Tifa said, "Well, at least we know Reno survived the attack and was captured alive...." 

Cloud gave her a somber look. "I'm not sure whether that's good or bad." He picked up the tape recorder. "I'm going to show this to Cid and Elena. Tifa, you and Red keep searching around here. We might have found an important clue that'll lead us to Hojo, but we need more." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4f: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - COMRADES IN ARMS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As he waited for Max to compile a list of any weapon storage facilities or plants that might fit Hojo's very sketchy description, Reeve took a good look at the SOLDIER on the other side of the desk. The man looked scruffy but there was a reassuring air of competency about him. He also looked singularly unimpressed about being called in front of the new president of Shinra. 

"Please sit down, Lieutenant... Clancy?" said Reeve. 

"Yes, sir." The SOLDIER gave him a laconic salute. 

"I have a few questions to ask you." 

"Sure." 

"You served directly under Sephiroth, correct?" 

Clancy sighed and rolled his eyes. They were a nondescript brown but still had the unmistakable Mako glow. He muttered, "Not that again." 

"Oh?" 

The SOLDIER sighed. "If you only knew the number of times I've been asked about that.... Yes, sir. I served under the General for about two years. It was six to eight years ago." 

Reeve stared thoughtfully at the SOLDIER. (Curious. After all these years and all that's happened, they still refer to Sephiroth as THE General....) 

"All right. However, Lieutenant, I actually wanted to talk about someone else. Another SOLDIER." 

The other man raised his eyebrows. 

"I have a few questions about Zack." 

The SOLDIER's expression suddenly turned a bit wary. 

Reeve cocked his head slightly. "Was he your friend?" 

Clancy nodded shortly. "Yeah. We were buddies. But Zack had lots of friends." 

"Was he good friends with Sephiroth?" 

The SOLDIER's expression became quite blank. "They got along okay. Beyond that, I can't rightly say, sir." 

"I've heard from other sources that they were actually quite close. Is that an accurate statement?" 

Clancy's expression became even more poker-faced, if possible, but he didn't say anything. 

Reeve leaned forward a bit and said, "Listen, lieutenant. I need some answers here." 

The SOLDIER shifted uneasily. "Uh, sir?" 

"Yes." 

"If you don't mind me asking... why are you interested in Zack?" 

"I'm afraid I can't be too specific. But I need to understand the type of person he was. I would greatly appreciate your cooperation." 

Clancy bit his lip, shuffled his feet, then mumbled his next question. "Is Zack alive?" 

Reeve blinked in shock. "Why do you ask?" 

"No, no. That was a really stupid question." 

"Come on, Clancy. I really want to know why you even bothered to ask." 

The SOLDIER scratched his head and sighed. "I heard that the General suddenly reappeared about a year ago. And where HE was... well, Zack always managed to show up sooner or later." He looked at Reeve. "Does that sort of answer your question about how close they were?" 

The Shinra exec took a deep breath. "Actually, in a weird way, it does." 

Clancy leaned back in his chair and said, "Well, you see there's 'close' and then there's 'CLOSE', if you get my drift...." 

Reeve choked on his coffee. After he stopped hacking and wheezing, he sputtered, "You don't MEAN...!" 

Clancy smacked himself on the forehead and muttered, "Sheesh! What IS it with you Shinra big shots!? It isn't THAT sort of 'close'! And they talk about soldiers having their minds in the gutter... god, you and Hojo both...." 

Reeve stiffened. If it had been humanly possible, he would have pricked up his ears. 

"Hojo? What about Hojo?" 

Clancy gave him a suspicious look. 

Reeve put his hands on the table and leaned forward. "Listen. I'm not here to smear anyone's reputation. Not Zack and not even Sephiroth's. What's this about Hojo?" 

The SOLDIER thought a moment, then shrugged. "Well, it was about a few weeks before everything went to hell during the Nibelheim mission. I don't know what set the crackpot off, but Hojo started snooping around, asking me and my buddies questions about Zack and just how 'friendly' he was with Sephiroth. For a scientist, he sure had sex on the brain." 

"So what did you say? 

Clancy shrugged. "Nothing. There was nothing to tell him. First of all, it's none of my bloody business. Second, even if we did know anything... not that I'm saying that we did, mind you... we sure wouldn't tell someone like Hojo!" 

"Did Zack know about Hojo's questions?" 

"Oh yeah, we warned him about it. Zack being Zack... well, I think he was more amused than upset. On the other hand, he made damn sure that the General didn't hear about it. Man, if Sephiroth had found out what Hojo was doing...." Clancy grimaced. 

"That bad, huh?" 

Clancy nodded. "Not that he would have started yelling or cursing like General Heidegger, mind you. But believe me, when the General got mad, it was time to do the old 'duck-and-cover' thing and pray REALLY hard." 

"So what happened?" 

Clancy hesitated briefly. "I don't know exactly. Zack just got this creepy LOOK on his face... one that tells you that somebody screwed up big-time and boy, are they going to be sorry... that sort of look. The next thing I know, Hojo stopped bugging us with those damn questions." Clancy's face turned thoughtful. "They were like that... the General and Zack... watching each other's back, I mean." 

Reeve let that percolate through his mind, then he said, "Sephiroth always gave me the impression of being such a loner. It's hard to imagine him needing someone to watch his back...." 

"I don't know about the General actually NEEDING anyone, and I'm sure he would have managed just fine by himself but... well, it was just that Sephiroth and Zack seemed to understand each other a lot better than most people. Only an idiot would throw something like that away just because you don't absolutely NEED it. And the General was no idiot." 

"Hmmm. Really?" 

"Yeah. It's sort of hard to describe." Clancy shrugged. "It's like they didn't need to actually say a lot of stuff aloud because they already had a pretty good idea what the other guy was thinking. They were just... sort of in sync, if you know what I mean. That's part of the reason Zack picked up the nickname 'Sephiroth's shadow'...." 

Reeve choked on his coffee again. 

"Hey. Maybe you should hold off on that stuff for a while. You're liable to kill yourself at this rate." 

"That...(wheeze)...sounds like...(gasp)...a good...(cough)...idea." 

Reeve set his cup aside and leaned back into his chair. "You were talking about Zack's nickname...." 

"Yeah. You couldn't miss someone like Sephiroth unless you were totally blind. The General was not exactly what you'd call 'inconspicuous'. Zack, on the other hand... well, he sort of had a way of fading into the background if he didn't want to be noticed. A lot of the Wutai fighters found that out the hard way. They'd be so worried about the General, they wouldn't see Zack until too late." Clancy drew a line across his throat and grinned nastily. 

Reeve propped his chin on his hand. "Didn't that bother Zack? I mean, always being in the background and forgotten?" 

"Not as far as I could tell. Some people are really desperate for attention, you know? They get all spazzed out if people don't like them, respect them, fear them... whatever. Zack wasn't like that. He enjoyed getting along with people, but if you didn't like him, that was your problem, not his." 

"What about Sephiroth? How were things from his side?" 

"Now THAT I don't know. I mean, the General always played it cool. He'd talk to you -- even let you argue with him -- if he thought you had something worth saying. But personal stuff... no way. Now, Zack was a hell of a lot easier to talk to than the General. Not that he was a bleeding heart or anything like that, but at least he gave you the impression that your problems meant something to him. The General... well, all he cared about was whether you were capable of doing your job or not." 

Clancy snorted. "Hell, the regular troopers -- even some of the SOLDIERs posted away from Midgar -- were all into this big hero-worship deal with Sephiroth... glamorized him and all that sort of crap. The guys that served directly under him... we knew better. The General was one cold son of a bitch... except maybe where Zack was concerned." 

"That didn't bother you?" 

"Hell, no. Why should it? None of us became SOLDIERs to get our hands held. The General was smart and he got the job done. That's all we cared about." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4g: BODIES OF EVIDENCE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

After over an hour of fruitlessly searching the basement of the Shinra Mansion, there was a triumphant yell from Yuffie. 

"Hey guys! Look at this!" 

"What's up, kiddo?" Cid sourly watched the ninja girl bouncing with excitement near the bottom of the rickety spiral staircase. 

"This wall's a lot newer than the rest of the basement walls. It's probably only a few years old." She reached out and pulled a brick free of the crumbling mortar with almost no effort. "And it's a sloppy job, too." 

The pilot peered closely at the space behind the bricks. "Say, doesn't that look like part of a metal door behind there?" 

"Yeah! Looks like someone was trying to hide something." 

Cid sucked on his cigarette and murmured, "Whaddya know? Cloud was right." 

It took only less than ten minutes to pull enough bricks away to expose a still shiny metal door with an impressive-looking electronic lock. After examining the thing for booby traps, Yuffie took a hard swing with her weapon and sliced the lock open. 

Carefully nudging the door open, all they could see was blackness and the sounds of softly running equipment. As their eyes gradually adjusted, they realized that the room was not completely dark. To their surprise, there was a faint greenish light coming from beyond a set of double doors on a side wall. Pushing the door open further, they could see that the room they were standing in appeared to be some sort of examination room, complete with two steel-topped tables. Even more unnerving were the heavy-duty straps attached to each table... straps obviously intended to restrain a human body. 

As Elena gingerly tugged on the straps, she said, "What the hell did Hojo need these for? These things could hold...." 

The pilot muttered, "....a Mako-enhanced human... or a SOLDIER." 

"You mean...." 

Before the blond Turk could finish, Yuffie cut loose with a muffled scream. 

Cid and Elena whirled to see dim green light streaming through the now open double doors. Vincent was standing utterly still in the doorway while Yuffie peeked around him into the room beyond. The ninja girl had her eyes open wide and her hands clasped over her mouth. 

"What the hell...." 

Hurrying to the double doorway, Cid and Elena saw that the dim green light in the room beyond came from tall, transparent cylindrical tanks lining two sides of the room. They were in pairs... and they were full. One cylinder in each pair contained the body of a naked woman. Most of the women had some sort of incision on their bodies -- either on their abdomens and/or Y-shaped incisions on their chests. 

The other tank in each pair contained something a lot smaller. At first, Cid couldn't figure out what the smaller things were, then his stomach did a slow, twisting flip-flop when he realized that they looked like... 

"....babies...," Yuffie whispered in a sick voice. "They look like... some sort of baby!" 

Elena hissed, "No way!" 

Cid swallowed hard. "She's right. But... I'm not sure what kind. They're all so messed up and deformed, I can't even tell if they're human or not." 

As they gazed in disbelief at the gruesome collection, Vincent silently stalked toward the large desk at the far end of the room. Paper rustled as the ex-Turk began to flip through the files and notebooks carelessly scattered on the desktop. 

Elena took a few nervous steps into the room, glancing around uneasily, before coming to an abrupt halt in front of a particular cylinder. 

"Oh... my... GOD!!!" 

Cid nearly sprang out of his boots. He whirled around and bellowed, "Shit! Did you have to scare me like that!?" 

Her arm quivered as Elena mutely pointed at the naked, red-haired woman floating tranquilly inside one of the tanks. 

"Well!?" 

"Look! Just LOOK at her!" 

Now that Elena had pointed it out, Cid realized that the red-haired woman seemed sickeningly familiar.... 

(Nah... couldn't be....) 

Elena edged a bit closer to the cylinder and read the label aloud. "Project (A2). Subject 9. Regis Donovan." 

Hovering close to Cid for comfort, Yuffie whispered, "Why do I get the feeling I've seen her somewhere before...." 

"Donovan is... Reno's last name, " whispered Elena as she gingerly put a finger on the cool glass. 

"WHAT!?!?" the others shouted. 

"I think... this might be his sister...." 

Cid gave the Turk a stupefied stare. "You're fuckin' kidding me...." 

Yuffie muttered, "No. Shit, she's right. That woman looks AWFULLY like Reno." 

"Did... did you know her, Elena?" 

"No. But I do know Reno's last name and the resemblance.... Well, it speaks for itself." Elena's breath caught in her throat. "Just yesterday, Reno was telling me that his sister was some sort of scientist at Midgar University. I don't know anything else. Rude... probably would know." 

In a harsh, gasping voice, Vincent suddenly snarled, "How many women did you kill in your attempts to create another Sephiroth!? How many!? DAMN YOU, HOJO!!!" With a furious swipe with his clawed arm, Vincent heaved the entire desk against the wall with a tremendous crash. 

From outside the room, Cid could hear Cloud exclaim, "What the hell's going on!?" 

Vincent stood glaring at the wreckage of the desk, his chest heaving and his metal claw clenching in barely controlled fury. The dark man then whirled and stalked out of the room. He brushed by Cloud without a word as the blond man ran in with sword drawn. 

"You guys okay? Where is Vincent going? What did you...?" Cloud's voice trailed off as he stared at the neatly arranged tanks and their grim contents. He took a long hissing breath, sheathed his sword, and slowly walked into the middle of the room. 

He looked around silently for a few minutes, then whispered softly, "This must be... Project (A2)." 

Cid said, "How the hell did you know that?" (Especially without reading any of the fucking labels?) 

"Hojo probably talked about it while I was a prisoner here." Cloud's voice was eerily calm. "Project (A) was the original prenatal Mako infusion experiment which produced Sephiroth. This is just an extension of that same program. Hojo was hoping to repeat the success of Gast's experiment." 

Cloud gestured around the room. "But as you can see, Project (A2) was a total failure." 

Elena whispered, "I guess that's why he walled up the lab...." 

Cloud nodded. "For some reasons, Hojo eventually decided to quit. Maybe he just got totally fed up with his lack of success. But not until all these women... died." 

Yuffie said in an nervous voice, "Are... are they... are you sure they're actually... dead?" She hastily looked around before remembering that Vincent was no longer around. "I mean, Sephiroth's mom Lucrecia didn't exactly... die...." 

Elena said, "Sephiroth's mother? What's this about a person called Lucrecia?" 

Cid muttered, "I'll explain later." The pilot remembered Lucrecia all too well. The poor woman had lingered in some eerie sort of half-life for decades after Sephiroth's birth. 

"Yes." Cloud slowly put his hand on the cool glass of a nearby tank. "There are no viable Jenova cells here." 

Cid watched his friend uneasily. Cloud looked like he was in some sort of trance as he slowly glanced around the room. Even the sight of Regis Donovan's body -- and its unmistakable resemblance to Reno -- barely made a dent in his unnatural calm. 

"Yuffie?" said Cloud. 

"Yes...?" 

"Go fetch Rude, please." 

"R-r-right." The ninja girl fled the room, glad for the slightest excuse to get as far away as possible. 

"Elena...." 

"Yes?" The blond Turk was obviously hanging on to her composure with every bit of willpower she could muster. 

"Check the area of the stairwell that's directly opposite to this lab." 

"Uh... what am I looking for?" 

"Another walled up area." 

"For what?" 

"Project (B), of course." 

Elena opened her mouth to ask more questions, then gave up. She quickly trotted out of the room, leaving Cid alone with Cloud. 

"What's Project (B)?" Cid's voice was quiet and surprisingly devoid of profanity. 

In the same eerily calm voice, Cloud replied, "Project (B) was Hojo's attempt to reconstruct Sephiroth by cloning samples of Sephiroth's own cells. Hojo began the project after Sephiroth... died... six years ago." 

Cloud turned to stare distantly at Cid. "Didn't you ever wonder why Hojo had to resort to infusing ordinary people with Jenova cells and Mako to produce 'Sephiroth Clones'? Didn't you ever wonder why Hojo didn't just make genuine clones of Sephiroth?" 

"Uh... not really. But now that you mention it...." 

"It's because Project (B) was a total failure, just like Project (A2) here." Cloud's voice was detached and totally objective. It was if his words had no personal relevance whatsoever. 

"Because of his failures with his other two Jenova projects, Hojo was forced to resort to Project (C) which involved the infusion of adolescent and post-adolescent humans with Mako energy and Jenova cells. Although Hojo called it the 'Sephiroth Clone' project, it was essentially just an intensified version of the tried-and-true method of creating SOLDIERs." 

Cid thought, (Project (C).... That was on the labels on those tanks we found in the basement library....) 

Aloud, the pilot said, "Why didn't Project (A2) and Project (B) work? After all, Gast and Hojo managed to produce Sephiroth on their very first try." 

Cloud shrugged as he continued to look thoughtfully at the woman floating in the dimly glowing liquid. "Jenova is an alien creature. No one knows what kind of biological quirks it might have. For whatever reasons, the direct cloning of Sephiroth didn't work. Thank god. I don't know what I would've done if Hojo had succeeded." 

The obvious emotion in Cloud's last words and the slight tic in his cheek were the first cracks in his calm facade. Cid wasn't sure whether he should be glad or worried about it. He took a deep breath and said, "O-kay. If Sephiroth's cells are useless for direct cloning, then why would anyone go through all this trouble to steal a sample of Sephiroth's cells?" 

Cloud slowly shook his head. "The direct cloning didn't work back then. It could be that Hojo has finally figured out a way to make the cloning process work within the last year." 

"How the hell do you even know for sure that Hojo's responsible?" 

Cloud reached into his pocket and pulled out the blood-covered tape recorder found by Tifa. He dropped it into Cid's hand. 

"It's Hojo, all right. Listen for yourself." 

With chills running up his spine, Cid pushed the play button. 

------------------------- 

As Cid finished listening to the tape, Rude and Barret ran into the room. 

"What the hell's going on!?" said Rude. 

Barret waved his gunhand angrily. "Yeah! Vincent storms out of the Mansion like a bat outta hell, then Yuffie suddenly shows up as white as a sheet and starts babbling so badly I can't understand a damn thing she's saying...!" 

Both men suddenly did a massive double-take when they finally noticed the contents of the room. They were both struck speechless. 

Cloud turned and gestured for Rude to join him. With the Turk standing beside him, he said quietly, "Did Reno have a sister?" 

Rude frowned at the unexpected question. "Wha... how did you know?" 

"Did you ever see her?" 

"Uh... yeah... once or twice. Why are you...?" 

"Is that her?" Cloud pointed at the cylinder containing the red-haired body of Regis Donovan. 

Rude turned and recoiled in shock. "Holy shit!" 

Cloud calmly waited. 

"Yeah... that's her. Reno's sister -- his TWIN sister. She worked at Midgar University. But she died in a train crash four years ago." 

"Twin sister!? That Turk has a sister!?" blurted Barret. 

Cloud calmly continued. "And her body was never recovered, right?" 

Rude nodded. 

Elena peeked in the door and said, "I found it. Another recently walled-up area." 

"Thanks." 

Cid frowned and said, "How the hell did you know there'd be another lab?" 

"It was a logical guess." 

"I don't get it, Cloud." 

"Hojo was a sloppy and disorganized person, but the Nibelheim lab administrator certainly wasn't. A place for everything and everything in its place. There had to be a lab for Project (B). It was just a question of finding it." 

Cloud looked at Cid and the others. "You guys take a look inside that walled-up area and see if you find anything... interesting. And tell Red, Tifa, and Cait Sith about all this." He made a vague gesture toward the neatly arranged tanks in the room, then turned to leave. 

"And what the hell will you be doing?" said Cid. 

Cloud halted in the doorway and said, "I'm going to find Vincent." 

At that moment, a low bestial roar echoed through the Mansion. It was all too familiar.... the voice of Chaos. 

Cloud jerked his head in the general direction of the sound. "I need to talk to him... alone." 

He turned and gave Cid and the others a thoroughly unnerving stare. "And if I don't get out of here now, I'm liable to start screaming and I might not be able to stop." With those words, he headed for the rickety wooden stairs leading up to the Mansion. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4h: ALL IN THE P.O.V.  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As soon as he had stepped into the newly discovered laboratory rooms and realized what they contained, Cloud had gone through a massive struggle to keep himself from running far, far away from the grisly scene. In the end, he had reached deep inside himself and found a quiet spot -- a stillness in his mind. The horror was still out there, but it was distant... far away. 

And curiously, the more he shut off his feelings, the better his memory seemed to be. He found himself recalling a surprising amount of information. Where it came from, he wasn't sure, but somehow he knew what he told the others was perfectly accurate. 

But finally, even distancing his emotions hadn't been enough. So now he was prowling the upper regions of the Mansion, trying find any sign of Vincent. A gaping hole in a ground floor wall gave Cloud his first clue. 

------------------------- 

It was easy for Cloud to find Vincent's trail. All he had to do was follow the path of devastation -- shredded vegetation, shattered boulders, uprooted trees... the handiwork of Chaos incarnate. By the time Cloud caught actual sight of Vincent, his friend had resumed human form. Shrouded in the familiar dark cloak, Vincent panted heavily as he perched on a large rock overlooking the burned-out town 

Cloud remembered the spot well. It had been one of his favored hiding places. He had spent many hours sitting on that very same rock, staring down at Nibelheim... watching the kids play without him... hearing their laughter.... In the beginning he had wanted so badly to join them... but later on, he'd sit up on this high isolated rock and think about how weak and pathetic those other kids were.... 

/ ....and dream of what I'd do to the little shitheads when I became strong enough.... / 

Cloud shook his head sharply and shoved his childhood memories aside. He stopped a few steps away from Vincent and waited. 

The dark man whispered, "I was a cursed fool to think that Hojo would have stopped with Lucrecia! All this time while I was sleeping, agonizing over my failure to save her, Hojo was carrying out his monstrous experiments over and over again. How he must have laughed!" 

He turned burning red eyes on Cloud, then suddenly sprang to his feet and pounced. Cloud fought down his instinctive jerk as the cold metal of Vincent's claw clamped around his throat. 

Vincent snarled, "When did this all start!? How many women died while I slumbered?" 

(You're asking me!? How on earth should I know....) Suddenly, Cloud realized that he DID know. He stared up at Vincent and wondered what he should do. Should he tell the man the truth or should he offer Vincent a comforting lie? 

Perhaps Vincent saw Cloud's indecision. In a soft, almost pleading voice, he said, "The truth. Please." 

Cloud nodded slowly. Vincent released his grip on Cloud's neck and stepped back. 

The spiky-haired young man said, "Hojo started work on Project (A2) about sixteen or seventeen years ago. Once Sephiroth joined SOLDIER at the age of fourteen, he was essentially free of Hojo's direct control. I guess Hojo wanted another... specimen... to play with. I'm guessing he was running at least one experiment a year." 

"Sixteen or seventeen years ago.... At least sixteen or seventeen lives...." Vincent snarled quietly. His rage was still simmering just below the surface, but its fury was temporarily exhausted by his recent rampage. He glanced at Cloud and said, "What do you mean about Sephiroth being free....?" 

As he stared at the cloud-shrouded peak of Mt. Nibel, Cloud said, "Growing up with Hojo's constant poking and prodding... getting treated with about as much consideration as a lab rat.... You can't imagine how much he despised Hojo. I think that's why Sephiroth worked so hard in SOLDIER... to make himself strong AND indispensable to Shinra." Cloud looked away. "It was his insurance against getting handed over to Hojo again. I supposed it worked. President Shinra wasn't about lose the services of his best general just to keep Hojo happy. By the time the war with Wutai started, Sephiroth had become dangerous enough and powerful enough to make even Hojo think twice about crossing him." 

"...." 

On the surface, Cloud's voice had been calm enough. However, Vincent was momentarily jolted out from his own fury by the traces of tightly leashed anger in the young man's words... anger that seemed intensely personal. Before Vincent could say anything, Cloud's phone beeped softly. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 4i: LIES OF OMISSION  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Back in the Mansion's basement, Cid and the others had just finished comparing notes on their respective discoveries. The Turks' reaction to the tape had been mixed. They were glad to know that Reno was alive. Unfortunately, they had realized that it might not be a good thing. 

Tifa whispered, "I thought Hojo was sick. But this.... I just can't...." She shuddered. 

Red glanced at Cid. "And you said Cloud went looking for Vincent?" 

"Yeah. Considering his feelings about Lucrecia... well, he just totally lost it." 

"Do you think Cloud's okay? If Vincent's gone berserk enough to transform into Chaos...." 

"I don't know, Tifa. But he's probably the best person to talk to Vincent at the moment." 

Tifa took another look at the bodies in the lab. Noticing her pale, sick expression, Cid grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the scene. 

"Barret, where's Yuffie?" said the pilot. 

The large man was stomping back and forth, waving his arms and swearing continuously. "Hell, I don't know! I think she decided that she'd had enough of this hellhole." 

Cid nodded. "Tifa, why don't you go find Yuffie, okay?" 

Tifa angrily shook her head. "Don't worry about me. I can handle it!" 

The pilot stared pointedly at her shaking hands. "Like hell. Get out of here." 

Barret muttered, "Working with Turks are better than hanging around this place. I'm goin' to check on Rude and Elena." 

Red murmured, "I think they're working on that walled-up door she found." 

Barret stomped away, still cursing. 

Alone with Red, Cid sighed and lit a new cigarette. 

The beast said, "Interesting, isn't it? From what you've told me, it seems that Cloud knows a great deal more than he consciously remembers...." 

"Yeah, I got that part. But hell, Red! It was damn scary to see him just shut down his feelings like that! Like what happened here had absolutely nothing to do with him. And you saw those exam tables in that outer room. You don't need straps THAT strong just to hold down some normal human women...." Cid's voice ground to an abrupt halt when he saw Red shudder and twitch all over. 

(Shit! You idiot!) He had been so focused on Cloud's odd behavior, he had completely forgotten that Red himself had been Hojo's prisoner and lab specimen for a untold period of time. 

"Uh.... Crap, I'm sorry...." The pilot shuffled his feet uneasily. 

Red shook his head. "No need, Cid. I won't deny that my experiences as Hojo's prisoner were... unpleasant to an extreme... but I suppose I was lucky. At least I didn't have worry about my mind...." 

"Shit, Red. Don't lie to me! I remember that time at the Gold Saucer. You got all upset because you were scared of going crazy!" 

"Oh that...." 

"Yeah, THAT!" From the color inside Red's ears, Cid thought that the beast was blushing with embarrassment, but he had no way to be certain with all that fur. 

Red grinned a bit sheepishly. "I allowed myself to get panicked with all that talk of tattoos and the odd behavior of the Sephiroth Clones." 

"Uh... did Hojo use any of that Jenova crap on you?" 

"No. When things settled down after Meteor, I had some tests done. They all turned out negative. It was a great relief." 

Cid reached out and thumped Red on the shoulder. "Hell, you could say that again." 

"But back to Cloud. I suspect...." 

"Yeah?" 

"Remember what he said before? About how he 'borrowed' many of Zack's stories and acted as if they were his own? It's very likely that Zack picked up much of the information on Hojo's experiments, then told Cloud about it." 

"I know. But hell, if Cloud knows all this crap about Hojo's Jenova projects, what else might he know? If there was only some way to get at that information...." 

Cid suddenly noticed Red looking uneasy... and guilty. 

"What's up?" 

"....nothing...." 

"Come on, you big hairball. Cough it up. If you know something...." 

With extreme reluctance, Red said, "I was reading Grandfather's diaries a few months ago. In them, he talked about several possible ways to enhance memory and recall... there was some mention of certain drugs and some rumors about a materia...." He shrugged. 

"Why the hell didn't you mention it before to any of us!? Cloud...." Cid abruptly stopped, even before Red could interrupt. 

"Hold it. Let's think about this again...." The pilot exhaled very slowly and stared down on his own wrist, recalling all too vividly his earlier conversation with Cloud on the Highwind's bridge. His stomach churned uneasily. 

Red urgently said, "As you've apparently figured out, it's not that simple." 

Cid mutely nodded as he remembered how Cloud had discussed his futile attempt to kill himself with almost terrifying calm. 

"It's undoubtedly occurred to you that there might be very good reasons Cloud can't remember what happened to him. There ARE things in this world that the human mind is simply not capable of coping with." Red looked up at him. "I missed the first part of your conversation with him on the Highwind's bridge, but if half of what I suspect is true.... Cid, if he's not ready to deal with them...." 

"Oh bloody hell...." 

"....the memories could destroy him. Literally." 

"So that's why you've kept your mouth shut all this time." 

Red lowered his head. "I didn't want him to know. Not just yet. If he found out that there might be ways of forcibly retrieving those memories...." 

"He'd probably insist on trying...." 

"Exactly. But, Cid... am I really doing the right thing by not telling him?" 

"I don't know, Red." Cid wearily leaned against a table. 

"It was a simple enough decision back then. After Meteor, there really wasn't a reason to bring up the matter of his lost memories. He seemed to doing fine without them. But now... there are more and more signs that Cloud's memory may contain vital clues to what's going on. Instead of just worrying about Cloud himself, now I have to think about the consequences of not fully exploring every possible source of information we have." Red's ears flattened and his brow crinkled in intense worry. 

Cid rubbed his forehead. "Well, shit.... I really don't want tell him, either. I guess... if the situation worsens, or if we run out of leads, we might not have a choice but to tell him. However, as long as there are other avenues to pursue, other options open...." 

Red nodded morosely, then stiffened. His ears swiveled to his left. 

"I know you're there, Yuffie." 

Cid spun around and groaned. "Oh hell's bells. Great, that's totally blown it! Little Ms. Motormouth...." 

There was a furious gleam in Yuffie's eyes as she marched forward toward Cid. She didn't stop until she was practically stomping on the pilot's toes. Yuffie grabbed his shirt and yanked his head down so they were staring eye to eye. 

She angrily hissed, "You moron! Just where do you get off accusing me of something like that? You think I can't keep my mouth shut, huh? Just how stupid do you think I am, Cid?" 

The pilot looked startled, then muttered just as angrily back, "You'd better, girl. This is a fucking serious matter!" 

Yuffie abruptly let go of his shirt, then stalked a few steps away. "Damn it, he's my friend too!" 

Cid flung up his hands and growled, "All right! All right! You made your goddamn point! Just don't go let this crap slip to Tifa or Elena in one of those girl-to-girl talks, okay?" 

Yuffie snorted angrily. "What the hell do you want from me? I told you I'll keep my mouth shut about this and I will!" 

Red sighed and shook his head sadly. "When I was young, I used to think that only truth and honesty were important. Now that I'm older... that seems to have all changed." 

In an eerie chorus, Cid and Yuffie simultaneously said, "That's the real world, Red." The two blinked, then stared at each other in surprise. 

The beast chuckled briefly, then his mood turned serious again. "It's hard to figure out what's best for Cloud. A truth which might be intolerable or a comforting lie...?" 

"You can say that again," a morose voice said behind them. 

The three friends whirled to see a rather depressed Cait Sith standing in the doorway. 

Glancing around at the others, Cid muttered, "What the hell? Is this a fucking convention or what?" 

Yuffie stared at the little cat and said, "What do you mean by that?" 

Cait rubbed its head and mumbled, "Nothing...." 

"Did you find any clues to where Hojo might be?" said Red. 

"Not yet. Scarlet liked her secrets. She's probably got a bunch of weapon sites that aren't officially listed." 

"Then how the hell...," muttered Cid. 

"By checking the money trail. She still had to pay the workers, buy equipment, that sort of thing. The problem with that approach is that it takes a hell of a lot longer. But we're working on it." 

"So have you found anything interesting?" 

"Actually, yes. I just finished telling Tifa, Barret and the Turks about what I found out about Zack." 

Cid said, "Yeah. Who was this guy Zack anyway? Aside from all the stuff that happened here in Nibelheim, all I know is that he was a SOLDIER, first class." 

Yuffie bit her lip, but said nothing. 

Cait Sith sighed. "Zack was quite a bit more than that. Cloud apparently left out some important facts about his friend." 

"Like what?" 

"Cid, Zack -- or Major Zackary Faelan as he was formally known -- wasn't just another ordinary SOLDIER. By all reports, Zack was one of the most promising SOLDIERs that Shinra ever had. Apparently, Sephiroth could see talent when he saw it. Zack was Sephiroth's aide and second-in-command for nearly four years. They were quite a team... right up to and including the mission to Nibelheim." 

"WHAT!?" The cigarette stub fell from Cid's gaping mouth. 

Red blinked in astonishment. "Are you sure?" 

Cait Sith nodded vigorously. 

"Whoa, whoa! Then how come I've never even heard of this guy before?" sputtered Cid. 

"When you've got someone as... spectacular... as Sephiroth, I guess everyone else sort of fades into the background. By the way, do you know a General Claxmore?" 

The pilot frowned. "I've heard of him. A crusty sort but seemed to be a pretty decent guy. Last I heard, he was appointed to head military ops in the southern regions. But that was years ago." 

"You're right. He's also Zack's maternal uncle. I had a very interesting chat with him this morning. I'll fill you in on the details later, but here's the most important thing. Claxmore told me that Zack contacted him just about a year ago from Costa del Sol." Reeve could almost see the light bulbs turning on in his friends' heads. 

"Shit!" 

Red leaned forward eagerly, "Did Zack say anything about the sample?" 

"Unfortunately, no. But what he told his uncle basically confirms Cloud's story about being Hojo's prisoners, escaping from Nibelheim, and that sort of thing. Apparently, Zack didn't want to get his uncle involved. Claxmore said that Zack was tense, but perfectly coherent. However, Zack's companion seemed to be pretty damn sick." 

"Ah HA!" said Yuffie. 

The little cat nodded. "Claxmore said that there was some indication that Zack was trying to take his friend to Mideel. Does that little bit of information strike any bells?" 

Red said excitedly, "Because the doctor there was known to have experience in treating Mako poisoning!" 

Yuffie whispered, "Cloud...." 

"Exactly. Claxmore also mentioned that Zack thought they were being followed." 

"So, we know that they were alive at Costa del Sol. Damn it! It's not enough!" 

Cait Sith slouched sadly. "I know." 

Red said, "Every piece of information helps." With a thoughtful frown, he added, "It's hard to imagine Sephiroth working closely with anyone...." 

The little cat coughed. "Actually, from the people I've talked to, Sephiroth and Zack were more than comrades-in-arms... they seemed to actually be... friends." 

"Whoa! Now that's GOT to be a load of crap!" said Cid. 

Cait Sith shrugged. "That's what I heard." 

Cid's phone suddenly chirped urgently. He pulled it out and said, "Yeah?" 

"This is Dr. Montessi from the ESSARUF facility." 

Cid looked started, "What do you want?" 

"I need to speak to your associate. The blond-haired man." 

The pilot's response was characteristically blunt. "Why?" 

"It involves Dr. Roissy. You DID insist that you be notified if she recovered consciousness." 

"So she's awake?" 

"Yes. But I must insist that I speak to your associate." 

"Hold it a sec," muttered, the pilot. 

As Cid contacted Cloud, Yuffie ran to tell Tifa and the others about the call. They came running just in time to hear Cloud's curt reply. 

"Yes?" said Cloud in an oddly tight voice. 

"Dr. Montessi wants to talk to you." 

"Huh? Whatever for?" 

"Hell, I don't know. Something to do with Roissy. Why don't you ask her yourself." 

"Yes, doctor?" Cloud's voice was uncharacteristically curt. 

"Excuse me, I didn't catch your name," said Montessi 

Cid snorted and muttered, "Of course she didn't. She was too damn busy staring at him to pay attention." 

"It's Cloud Strife." 

"I see. Mr. Strife...." 

He interrupted her sharply. "Just call me Cloud." 

There was a brief pause, then the doctor sullenly said, "Very well. Mr. Cloud, my sister Dr. Roissy has recovered consciousness. She wants to speak to you urgently." 

"What's it about?" 

The doctor sounded very annoyed. "I don't know. She refuses to tell me. Roissy says that she'll talk to you and only you. In person. If you are interested, I suggest you get back here as soon as possible. Her condition could deteriorate without warning." 

"Hold on for a moment." Cloud cut Montessi out of the conversation, and said, "It looks like Dr. Roissy's ready to talk." 

"Well, that's a lucky break for us...," Tifa said. 

The pilot muttered, "IF she's making sense." 

"She's coherent enough to ask for me specifically...." 

"Hell, she must have recognized you in the elevator shaft," said Cid. 

In a thoughtful voice, Cloud said, "Dr. Roissy did say something just before she fell... that someone told her I was dead." 

Cid growled, "I bet she was referring to Hojo." 

Tifa said uneasily, "But what does she want from you, Cloud?" 

"I don't know. Montessi says that her sister won't talk to anyone else but me." There was a brief pause. "If she's got any more information about that damned sample.... We can't pass up any possible leads so I guess I'll have to go. So who wants to come with me and who wants to stay here and keep searching?" 

"Count me in," said Cid. 

Tifa chimed in with, "Me too." 

Red chuckled softly. "I don't think any of us WANT to stay in this place, but there's too much information here. I'll remain here with the others and keep searching for Hojo's lab reports." 

In a worried voice, Cloud said, "Will you guys be okay? There's no telling if Hojo or his monsters might come back here." 

Yuffie shouted over the phone, "Listen, we can take care of ourselves! Besides, with seven people here, counting Elena and Rude...." 

Barret grinned sourly at the mention of the Turks. "Spike, you just get your butt over there and pump Roissy for every bit of info she's got. She might have the key to this whole mess. If she's about to croak at any moment...." 

"All right. I'll met you guys at the Highwind in a few minutes." 

Cid suddenly said, "Uh, Cloud? You find Vincent?" 

Vincent's voice cut into the conversation. "I'm fine, Cid. But I think I'll stay out here for a while." 

"Sure thing." 

There was a click as Cloud reconnected with Montessi. "Doctor, I'll be there as soon as I can. Contact me if your sister's condition changes or if she tells you anything." 

"Very well." 

After Montessi hung up, Cloud said, "Cid? Tifa? Let's see if Roissy has anything interesting to tell us." 

-------------------------  
(end of Part 4) 

********************************************************************** 

In part 5,   


- MORE scientists... some mad... some not 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	5. COI Part 5

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 11/18/99 

======================================================================  


CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  


PART 5: SHARDS OF TRUTH  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

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Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects 

********************************************************************** 

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PART 5a: WHIP HAND  
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Dr. Montessi awaited them in the infirmary. Unlike their first meeting, she only gave Cloud a brief glance, before pointing to a closed door down the hall. 

"Roissy's in there." She glanced meaningfully at Tifa and Cid. "But she insists on talking to you alone." 

Tifa gave Cloud an inquiring glance. He shrugged and said, "It's not as if we have much choice." 

She nodded sharply. "Fine. We'll wait right out here." Tifa headed for a nearby sitting area. Cid threw himself into a comfortable chair and propped his feet up on the coffee table. 

Cloud glanced at the doctor and said, "Dr. Montessi. After you." 

Montessi led Cloud to the door and allowed him to usher her inside. The room was brightly lit, giving him a clear view of the bed. Roissy lay still, her eyes closed. 

Cloud frowned slightly. There was an unpleasant organic odor in the air, but it was almost completely covered by the unusually strong smell of antiseptic. He looked at Roissy and quietly said, "Are you sure she's up to this?" 

Montessi shrugged. "She's probably just fell asleep waiting for you. Go wake her up. After all the trouble she made, I'm sure she's just dying to talk to you." 

He quietly approached Roissy's bed. He stared at her for a long moment. 

(I... know her. But from where?) 

"Dr. Roissy?" 

There was no response. Cloud called her name again, then reached out to give her a gentle shake. But as soon as he touched her shoulder, he knew something was terribly wrong. Her flesh was stiff and cold. Not only was Roissy dead, but she had been dead for several hours. 

Before he could react, Cloud heard three quick puffing noises. There was a clacking noise as something hit the wall, then two sharp stabbing pains in his shoulder... unpleasantly familiar pains. Twisting his head to get a look, he saw two tranquilizer darts protruding from his back. 

"What the...!?" He glared at Montessi. 

The doctor coolly stared back at him. "Don't even try struggling. You should know by now that it's quite useless. That drug was specifically designed to take down people and creatures with Mako-enhanced bodies. And I took the precaution of increasing your usual dosage...." 

Cloud felt a growing numbness seeping through his body. He gritted his teeth angrily and said, "My usual dosage? What are you talking about? Why the hell are you doing this?" 

Montessi cocked her head slightly. 

"You still don't remember? Interesting...." 

"Remember WHAT!?" 

"Nibelheim, of course. Project (C), Sample B, designated 'Code C'. Or should I call you Strife, Trooper Private second class?" 

"Don't... call me... that...!" 

"But that's your name, isn't it?" 

He stared at her blankly for a minute, then his expression abruptly changed to one of rage and fury. He growled, "You... filthy... stinking... bitch!" 

"Ah, finally starting to recognize me?" 

Oh yes, he remembered her now. Cloud snarled and took two steps toward her before his legs buckled. Collapsing to his hands and knees, he hissed, "I'm... going to rip... your goddamn heart... out!" 

"Idle threats, just like before. You couldn't do anything to me back in Nibelheim. And you can't do anything now. By the way, you can yell all you want. This room is totally soundproof." 

"You're... dead... meat...!" His hands curled into fists, but he was too weak to stand. 

Montessi watched him with a cold, malicious smile. It only took a light touch with her foot to nudge him over onto his back. As he sprawled helplessly on the cold floor, she bent over and jerked his chin up, forcing him to look at her. 

"Meat? Me? Hardly. That's what you are. Just another useless little chunk of Shinra cannon fodder. And you thought you could become a SOLDIER?" She laughed in his face. "Compared to Sephiroth and Zack, you're nothing. Worthless." 

She dumped his head against the floor and stood up. After watching him continue to struggle for several minutes, Montessi frowned and checked her watch. Even though she had nearly doubled the dosage, he was still conscious and fighting the drug. That simply won't do. She contemplated her options. She could give him another dose but it could very well kill him. No, it would be better to keep him alive for the moment... just in case. 

Cloud distantly heard Montessi open and close a drawer, then there was a horribly familiar crackling noise. 

He could hear something in the room whimper.... 

( NO! DON'T! PLEASEPLEASESTOPHURTINGME!!! ) 

"Oh, so NOW you're scared." The savage mockery in Montessi's voice made a reddish haze of rage obscure over his vision. 

/ FUCKING STUPID SPINELESS COWARD!!! / 

....then everything went black as an agonizing electrical charge ripped through him. 

Montessi nudged Cloud's limp body with her foot. Satisfied that he was quite unconscious, she turned off the shockstick and calmly called for her orderlies. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5b: ICY RESOLUTIONS  
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Tifa was impatiently pacing back and forth in the sitting area. Cid was still in his chair but he couldn't keep himself from nervously drumming his fingers. 

"What the hell's taking so long?" she muttered. "He's been in there for over a half hour!" 

"I don't know." Cid suddenly noticed that the security guard had apparently multiplied. Where there had been only one, there was now two. And now he caught a glimpse of three heavily armed guards lurking just around the corner. He suspected that there were a lot more of them nearby. 

Tifa continued to pace but he caught her adjusting her gloves before she flashed him a quick warning glance. He gave her the faintest nod in return. Cid didn't know what those guards were up to, but he had a bad feeling that he and Tifa were about to find out. 

The guards casually headed in their direction. Cid just as casually decided to stand up to throw away his cigarette. His hand tightened on his spear. 

Suddenly, a sharp, icy female voice said, "Why are you all gathered here? Return to your posts." 

A startled security guard babbled, "Dr. Savois, we...." 

"I told you to return to your posts." 

The guard opened his mouth to protest, but quickly changed his mind when Savois gave him a cold glare. 

"Uh... yes, ma'am." 

As the security guards reluctantly departed, Dr. Savois glanced at Tifa and Cid. 

"Weren't you just here yesterday? Why are you back?" Savois was a tall, strikingly attractive woman with long, curly, dark red hair and dark green eyes. 

Tifa relaxed a bit, but keep a wary eye out anything suspicious. "We're here to speak to Dr. Roissy. We got a message about two hours ago that she wanted to talk to us." 

Savois' eyes narrowed. "That's quite impossible." 

"Why the hell's that?" said Cid. 

"Because I was informed by the infirmary staff that my sister died well over six hours ago." 

"WHAT!?" 

Tifa sputtered, "Are you sure!?" 

Cid and Tifa stared at each other in dismay. The pilot pounded himself on the head. "I'm so fuckin' STUPID! I bet it was all a goddamn trap for...." 

"....Cloud!" 

Cid whirled and dashed down the hallway toward room Montessi had pointed out. Before Tifa could follow, Savois grabbed her arm in a surprisingly strong grip and stopped her dead in her tracks. 

"Who told you Roissy was still alive?" 

"Montessi!" Tifa finally managed to wiggle free of Savois' grasp. Reaching the door, she shoved Cid aside and kicked the door down. She ran inside and glanced around wildly. 

Cloud and Montessi were nowhere in sight. 

Behind her, Savois took two deep breaths, then hit the intercom. "Security. This is Savois. I want a full-scale search of this facility. Top to bottom. Locate Dr. Montessi but do not approach. Repeat. Do NOT approach. Anyone injuring her or anyone with her will answer directly to me." 

As she watched Tifa and Cid frantically searching the room, Savois quietly hissed under her breath, "Montessi, you bloody idiot...." 

------------------------- 

Tifa and Cid found Roissy's stiffening corpse lying on the bed, but there was no trace of Cloud. Cid suddenly bent down and picked up something off the floor. He stalked over to Savois, grabbed her by her labcoat and yelled, "What the hell is this!?" 

Savois ignored Cid's rough handling and blandly replied, "It's a tranquilizer dart." She plucked it from the pilot's hand and held it against the light. 

"I believe it contains Quadrazin." 

"And what the hell's that?" 

"An experimental drug that was originally designed to sedate Mako-enhanced creatures." She frowned thoughtfully. "Am I correct in assuming that your friend is -- or was -- a member of SOLDIER?" 

"Why on earth do you want to know?" 

"Because if he's not, this drug will kill him very quickly and very painfully." 

Tifa muttered, "Yes, he's undergone Mako treatments." 

"I see. Well, in that case, if he's been hit with a similar dart, there's probably no harm done." Savois discretely tugged her labcoat out of Cid's grasp. "By the way, you should be careful in handling that dart you're holding. If I'm correct as to its contents, even a very small dose is powerful enough to kill an ordinary human being." 

Tifa snapped, "What do you mean 'probably no harm done'!? Don't you know!?" 

"Actually... no, I don't." 

"Why not!?" shrieked Tifa. 

"I told you. This drug was experimental. It performs somewhat erratically. When it works, it's effective and very quick. But there's a small but distinct chance that it won't work. In that case, the drug only leaves the victim in a severely disoriented mental state, but has little or no effect on physical abilities. If your friend is a SOLDIER... well, that could be a bit of a problem." 

Cid flung his arms up and shouted, "ARGHHH! What the hell's going on? And where the fuck is Cloud!?" 

Savois raised an elegant eyebrow. "I would think that it's obvious. My moron of a sister has just kidnapped your friend." 

Tifa growled, "What is she planning to do with him!?" 

The doctor shrugged. "How should I know? I had nothing to do with it. Believe me, the last thing I want is to having one of President Reeve's close friends harmed or injured in any way." 

------------------------- 

A few minutes later, Savois was questioning one of the security guards who had recently tried to ambush Tifa and Cid. 

"Sergeant Kendell, would you explain to me what the hell you and two full squads of security were doing lurking around the infirmary just a few minutes ago?" Savois was tapping her foot ominously against the floor. 

The sergeant flinched slightly at the mild obscenity and quickly said, "Dr. Montessi's orders, ma'am. She reported some suspicious characters and ordered us to remove them." 

"I see." The security guard nervously shuffled his feet under her hard stare. "May I remind you that the chain of authority in this facility does NOT pass through my sister. With Dr. Aston's death, it passes through me. Is that clear?" 

"Ummm. Yes, ma'am." 

A security guard rushed up to Savois and the sergeant. "Sir! We've located Dr. Montessi. She's in the secured labs on level five." 

Savois said, "Excellent." 

Tifa stared at the doctor as Savois pulled the pistol from Sergeant Kendell's belt and expertly checked it for working order. "Hey! Just what the hell are you planning to do...?" 

"I would think that it's obvious. Montessi has obviously lost her mind. I'm going to stop her before she makes a bigger mess of things." 

With those words, Savois turned and briskly walked down the hallway with the security squad trailing behind her. 

Tifa and Cid exchanged startled looks. Cid whistled softly, then muttered, "Humph. That's one SCARY lady." He reminded himself to never turn his back on Dr. Savois. 

Tifa nodded in agreement as she and Cid ran after Savois. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5c: JUST DESSERTS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Everyone reached the laboratories on level five. Savois raised her hand for silence. The hallway turned dead quiet. 

Sergeant Kendell said softly, "The security camera shows the man on an examination table in the furthest room. Montessi is standing to the right of the door in the front room." 

Savois nodded coolly. Tifa had only took a few steps toward the door when Savois firmly pushed her aside. The doctor slipped off her high-heeled shoes and kicked the sturdy door open with no apparent effort. As soon as the door sprang open, she leveled her pistol at her sister. 

Montessi whirled around in surprise, scalpel in hand. "Savois!" 

"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" Savois sounded distinctly annoyed. 

Montessi laughed a bit wildly. "Oh, sister, if you only knew!" 

"What I know is that you seemed to have taken up kidnapping as a hobby." 

"What's a minor thing like that in the quest for scientific knowledge?" 

"Oh please, you sound exactly like that idiot Hojo. I hope you weren't stupid enough to injure him." 

"It doesn't matter to me if he lives or dies." 

"But it matters to me. I don't need the trouble, nor do I need President Reeve throwing a fit because you managed to injure or kill his friend." 

"You're a coward, that's what you are. You like playing things safe." Montessi made the last word sound like an obscenity. 

Savois gave her sister a bored look. "Don't give me that old argument again." 

Tifa finally managed to squeeze her way into the room. "Cut the crap! Where's Cloud!?" 

Montessi glared at Tifa. "That's none of your concern!" 

"You kidnap my friend and you call it none of my concern!?" 

"Friend?" Montessi snorted. "You must be desperate indeed if you consider a worthless coward like him a friend!" 

"Where do you get off call him a coward, you bitch?" snarled Cid. 

"What else would you call a sniveling little runt? You should have heard him begging for mercy!" Montessi retorted. 

"Why you...!" Several of the security guards edged nervously away from Tifa, who was nearly glowing with rage. 

At that moment, some over-enthusiastic security guards shoved their way into the room and basically got in everyone's way. 

Savois snapped, "You idiots!" 

Montessi took immediate advantage of the commotion. She bolted through the security door at the back of the room and slammed it behind her. Cid ruthlessly swiped the clueless security guards from his path with the blunt end of Venus Gospel. The heavy security door was locked, but three hard slashes ripped it open. Cid charged through the doorway into the neighboring lab room, only to see Montessi disappearing through another security door at the opposite end of the room. 

He muttered, "Shit!" and set off after her with Tifa at his heels. 

------------------------- 

Before the security could follow Tifa and Cid, Savois held up her hand, stopping them in their tracks. 

"But ma'am!" 

"He's their friend. Let them have the first chance to deal with the problem." She gave them a nasty look. "Besides, you'll only get in the way. Again." 

Some of the security people began to sweat nervously. 

------------------------- 

Montessi led Cid and Tifa on a merry chase through the lab level. Each time she went through a door, she gained a bigger lead. It took fractions of a second to lock the security doors, but it took much longer for Cid to break them down. The pilot was starting to wonder just how big the damn level was. 

As he and Tifa approached another door, there was a muffled crash and a series of faint pounding noises from the other side. Cid's spear slashed, Tifa kicked, and the door thudded to the floor. The doorway opened onto a smaller lab room. Remembering the strange noises, Cid took a wary step through the door, but he couldn't see any trace of Montessi. Suddenly, just as the pilot caught a flicker of motion in the corner of his eye, something slammed into Cid and sent him flying. He hit the nearby wall with a crash, then slid limply to the floor, out cold. 

Cid never had a chance to see his attacker, but Tifa did. She screamed, "Cloud, what are you DOING!?" 

Cloud stood over Cid, gasping for breath and swaying unsteadily on his feet. He didn't respond to Tifa's question. He merely watched at her, eyes narrowed in a hostile, drug-glazed stare. Cloud acted like he didn't recognize her at all. 

------------------------- 

But in its dark, murky hiding place, someone had no problem recognizing Tifa Lockheart. No problem at all. 

/ Stupid lying sluttish little BITCH...! / 

------------------------- 

(Oh no! What the hell did Montessi DO to him?) 

Tifa took two quick steps in his direction. The abrupt movement turned out to be a bad mistake. He might have been wobbly on his feet, but he certainly wasn't helpless... or harmless. Cloud snarled and lashed out with his fist. The attack was shockingly strong and fast. Even with her training and experience, Tifa barely managed to dodge. 

"Cloud!" 

His first attack might have been just an instinctive response to Tifa's rapid approach. However, Cloud's lightning fast follow-up -- a vicious kick and punch combination -- definitely was not. It was much too precise. 

It was only by sheer luck -- and the fact that Cloud was probably doped to the gills -- that Tifa avoided getting seriously injured. He was not holding back. That last attack had missed her by fractions of an inch and had turned a sturdy storage cabinet into so much scrap metal. Tifa could just imagine what that strike would have done to her if it had connected. 

(YIKES!!! He's so FAST! And strong!) 

She hastily scrambled out of range. Cloud didn't pursue her. Instead, he stood wavering on his feet, his chest heaving. She saw his eyes dart rapidly around the room like a wild animal searching for an escape route. 

Since Cloud almost always used his sword in battle, Tifa had never had an opportunity to judge his unarmed combat skills. But when he slid into a fighting stance with the practiced ease of an expert, Tifa knew she was in serious trouble. Not only was Cloud faster and stronger than she was, she had a nasty feeling that his technique was as good -- if not better -- than hers. And in the confined space of the lab, she had no room to maneuver. 

She automatically took up a defensive stance, warily watching him. (Where the hell did Cloud get this good? I didn't think that Shinra trained its troops that heavily in martial arts....) 

Maybe... just maybe... she could take him down. He might have the enhanced body of a SOLDIER but he was obviously trying to fight off whatever weird drugs that bitch Montessi had used on him. And she had a few special techniques Zargan had taught her... but if she screwed THOSE up, someone could easily die.... 

(What I'm thinking of? This is Cloud! There's got to be another way!) 

From the doorway, someone softly murmured, "Don't try it." Tifa recognized Savois' voice instantly. The doctor continued, "If you keep that up, you're only going to make him feel more threatened. If he really goes after you, you're dead." 

(Savois' right. Trying to use force is only going to make this mess worse.) 

Tifa dropped her hands and assumed the most relaxed, non-threatening pose she could manage, she said softly, "Cloud...." 

At first, she was afraid that she wasn't getting through to him at all. She repeated his name, always in that quiet, soothing tone, until she saw a slight change in his eyes... a faint flicker of recognition. 

She tried to approach him but the move made him tense visibly. She backed up to give him more room and to give him time to sort out his surroundings. Finally, he frowned slightly and muttered, "Tifa?" 

"That's right. It's just me. Tifa. You remember me, right?" 

"I... what... where...?" 

"Yes, Cloud. You're safe now. I'm here. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Trust me." 

Cloud gave her a confused look, then slowly sagged to his knees. Tifa dashed to his side just in time to catch him in her arms as he passed out. As she frantically examined him, Tifa discovered that he didn't seem to have any obvious injuries. That still left the question of what Montessi had done to him.... 

She jumped as two loud gunshots went off behind her. Tifa whirled to see Savois standing over her sister's body, holding a smoking gun. Without any visible emotion, Savois said, "You should be more careful. She could have easily cut your throat." With her foot, Savois nudged the scalpel lying on the floor near Montessi's outstretched hand. 

A stunned Tifa looked up at Savois, who appeared totally unmoved by the fact that she had just shot her own sister dead. 

"Yes?" Savois raised an inquiring eyebrow. 

"Your... your sister... you killed...." 

Savois' lips thinned. "Montessi was high-strung and over-excitable. It wasn't totally unexpected to have her go over the edge like this." The doctor shrugged. 

Cid groaned quietly, then rolled over on his back. 

"What the hell hit me?" he mumbled. 

Tifa mumbled back, "Ummm. Cloud did." 

"What? What did he do a dipshit thing like that?" 

"You startled him. He wasn't thinking clearly...." 

"So what's new?" 

"Cid!" Tifa sounded outraged. 

"Oh, for god's sake, Tifa! You know what I mean. Don't yell. My head can't take it." 

Savois walked over to Cid. He yelped as she firmly checked him over, especially around his upper body. Finally, she said, "I think you've got a slight crack in your cheekbone. It looks like you may have pulled a few neck muscles and chipped your shoulder blade. Your healing materia should take care of those injuries with no problem." She gave the pilot a cool stare. "You're lucky he was holding back. He could have easily broken your neck." 

"You call this holding back!?" Cid winced in pain as he struggled to his feet. 

Savois stood up and looked at them. "You really don't know much about SOLDIERs, do you? You have no idea what you're dealing with." She shook her head. "I'll go order a stretcher for your friend." 

Still gingerly holding his face, Cid sputtered, "Now hold it...!" 

Savois smoothly added, "Given what just occurred, I think that he should remain under observation for at least a few hours." 

The pilot glanced at Tifa. She glanced down at the unconscious and now dangerously pale Cloud. "Surely a cure spell...." 

Savois shook her head. "That would probably work. But considering the severity of his reaction, I would strongly recommend that you just let him sleep it off. It'll only take a few hours." 

The doctor walked over to Cloud and glanced down at him, then suddenly frowned. Kneeling beside Tifa, she grabbed Cloud's chin and pulled back an eyelid. 

Tifa yelled, "Hey!" 

"He has Mako eyes. How did that happen?" The doctor glared at Tifa. 

"What? Do you know Cloud?" 

Savois snapped, "I'm familiar with every single candidate that went through the SOLDIER program ever since it started. And he certainly wasn't one of them." She drummed her fingers on the floor before suddenly snapping her fingers. 

"Ah, now I remember. Strife. Cloud Strife." 

"You DO know him!" said Tifa. 

"I know that he was refused as a SOLDIER candidate." 

"How can you possibly remember...." 

"I have a very good memory." 

Cid stared to Savois. "Maybe a little observation time wouldn't be a bad idea for Cloud. Besides, I think we need to have a long talk, doc. Right, Tifa?" 

She glanced at Cloud and Savois, then nodded slowly. "All right. But I'm not letting Cloud out of my sight." 

"Perfectly understandable," Savois murmured smoothly as she gestured for the stretcher. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5d: EXPERTISE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

They ended up in a small sitting area that had an observation window into the adjacent room. Through the window, Tifa had no problem keeping an eye on Cloud. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough. His sword rested in the corner, after being found by one of the now-helpful security guards. 

After some brief introductions, Savois folded her arms and said, "I would appreciate it if you'd tell me how Cloud Strife ended up with a SOLDIER's body. That certainly didn't happen through official channels." 

Cid scowled. "How can you tell?" 

Savois shrugged. "Besides the obvious glow in the eyes, there are much more subtle signs... but an expert can tell right away." 

"And you're an expert?" 

"Yes." 

"Why are you making such a big deal outta this, Savois?" 

The doctor sighed in exasperation. "Because I know he doesn't meet the qualifications for the SOLDIER program. At least, he didn't when he applied... oh, about... six or seven years ago." 

Cid stared hard at her. "Hey, just how old are you?" 

"Is that really pertinent?" 

"Like hell it is! How long were you involved with SOLDIER and this Jenova crap!?" 

Savois shrugged. "I was a graduate student under Professor Gast when Jenova was discovered. I did my doctorate on a procedure that used a combination of Mako infusion and Jenova cells to enhance strength, dexterity, and physical abilities. With some fine-tuning, that procedure eventually became the process used to create Shinra's SOLDIERs." 

Tifa rapidly back-calculated. "But... but that makes you at least fifty years old!" She stared at the doctor who looked as if she couldn't be any older than her mid-thirties. 

Savois dryly replied, "I'm well preserved." 

"You must be...," muttered Cid. 

Tifa sharply asked, "Doctor, what did you know about Hojo's Jenova experiments and Sephiroth?" 

"Most of my expertise is related to the SOLDIER program. However, I was aware of Hojo and Gast's prenatal modification project which produced Sephiroth. I also know that Sephiroth was Hojo's son." 

"Then how could you possibly not know about what was going on in Nibelheim...?" 

Savois coolly interrupted Tifa's outburst. "Unlike either of my sisters, I was never assigned to Nibelheim. I had certain... philosophical differences with Professor Hojo, so I ended up in Midgar, supervising the SOLDIER program while he puttered around with his various other Jenova-related experiments." 

The doctor folded her arms and said, "Now that I've established that I've been intimately involved with the SOLDIER project ever since it started about thirty-one years ago, will you please tell me what happened with Cloud Strife? Because he certainly did not go through the SOLDIER program." 

"Hojo," Cid said flatly. 

Savois inhaled slowly, then said, "Hojo... the damn fool." 

Tifa said, "Dr. Savois, why are you so interested in Cloud?" 

The doctor sighed. "Just what do you people know about the SOLDIER program and process?" 

Cid said, "Not much. Only that it was Shinra's way of producing an elite corps of supersoldiers. People ended up physically enhanced. That's it." 

"Do either of you know why the SOLDIER screening program is so selective?" 

"Nope." Cid glanced at Tifa who shook her head. 

"Very well. I'll explain this as simply as I can. The SOLDIER conversion process is very stressful, even under optimum conditions. And if the candidate is not capable of handling that stress, the transformation process can become extremely traumatic. That can result in all types of mental problems." 

Tifa said uneasily, "Really? Like what?" 

"Oh, a wide variety. But the most common are problems such as paranoia, homicidal mania, manic-depressive syndrome, amnesia, post-traumatic stress disorders, personality fragmentation...." 

As Savois calmly continued with her list, Tifa began to look absolutely ill. 

When the doctor noticed Tifa's expression, Savois said, "Excuse me. Is there something wrong?" 

"N-no. Go on." 

"That's why the candidate selection process is so rigorous. The SOLDIER process will work on virtually anyone. However, the combination of Jenova cell injections and Mako infusions tends to aggravate any pre-existing or latent mental and emotional problems. The results can be... unfortunate." 

"You don't say," muttered Cid. 

"Most candidates were rejected on the basis of psychological evaluations, not physical problems. The last thing Shinra wanted was to have mentally unstable supersoldiers running loose." 

"I can see why they might consider that a problem," said Tifa in faintly sarcastic tones. 

"Ah... yes. You were the ones who faced Sephiroth. Then you know what I mean." 

"Sort of." 

"I think I've already mentioned that I had certain disagreements with Hojo. Well, I was rather vocally opposed to Dr. Gast and Hojo's prenatal modification experiment -- the infusing of an unborn fetus with Jenova cells and Mako." 

"Oh, you mean Sephiroth!" 

"Correct. The problem with their approach is that there's no way to pick and choose a suitable candidate. You just have to take genetic potluck. I wasn't the least bit surprised that Sephiroth eventually snapped. It was probably inevitable, considering that he got half his genes from Hojo." 

Savois sighed. "Dr. Gast and I... well, we agreed to disagree on the subject. Hojo didn't take my criticism so kindly, so he made sure I stayed as far away from Nibelheim as possible." 

Cid chewed on his cigarette. "Okay, but that still doesn't explain...." 

"I was just getting to that. With the screening tests I helped to develop, the occurrence of side effects from the SOLDIER process approaches one percent... one in a hundred. Without screening, the probability of severe mental side-effects increases substantially." 

"How substantially?" Tifa whispered. 

"About 75% for the general population, although it can be higher with certain aggravating factors." 

"Are you saying that three out of four ordinary people would go crazy...." 

Savois frowned. "I prefer to avoid the term 'crazy'. It's such a judgmental term. I simply mean that there's a better than even chance that some severe mental problem will occur." 

(Dear god, if she's right, that would explain a lot....) Tifa sank down slowly into a convenient chair and buried her face in her hands. 

"Tifa...." Cid shook his head, then turned back to Savois. "So you must have known most of the SOLDIERs." 

"Yes. Since I was conveniently located in Midgar and had expertise in the subject, I ended up handling most of the medical support for SOLDIER." 

"Then... you must have known Sephiroth." 

Savois sniffed in annoyance. "Yes. An undeniably brilliant man, but difficult and demanding. He had no patience for the inadequacies of others." 

(Look who's talking!) Cid smiled sourly. "Did you also know a SOLDIER called Zack?" 

For the first time, Savois' smile and voice were devoid of mockery or sarcasm. She chuckled softly and said, "Yes. I did." 

"How well did you know him?" 

"Fairly well on a casual basis. Sephiroth preferred not to deal with Shinra's scientific division, so Zack usually ended up acting as a go-between. It worked out for the best. He was much easier to deal with than Sephiroth." 

Looking at Savois, Cid had to admit she was one hell of an attractive woman... even though she was almost twice HIS age. "Anything going on between you two?" 

Savois' eyes narrowed. "You're a blunt man, Captain Highwind." 

The pilot simply shrugged. "Whatever." 

"No. We occasionally had lunch together. That was it. Although, I'll freely admit that I wouldn't have minded a somewhat closer relationship. He was an attractive, charming young man." 

"No problems robbing the cradle, hm?" 

She chuckled, "The opinion of fools don't interest me." 

Cid abruptly switched topics. "Did you know a Dr. Stephen?" 

Savois sneered. "Now there's a fool if I ever saw one." 

"Oh?" 

"Not only was he incapable of innovative thinking, he was sloppy and careless." She made it sound like a mortal sin. "And he had an unpleasant tendency to put his hands where they didn't belong." She smiled grimly. "He tried it with me. Once. He ended up being my sister Roissy's lover, which might tell you something about her tastes and her judgment. I believe he was Heidegger's second cousin or something like that." 

"Well, he's dead." 

Savois didn't even bat an eyelash. "Small loss." 

Cid snorted, then said, "Doc, I forgot to ask the first time we were here but the high security cell sample containers...." 

"Yes?" 

"Do they all look the same?" 

"Yes. They're all fluorescent yellow and green." 

Cid grimaced. "Can't exactly miss that, can you?" 

"They're supposed to be highly visible, Captain." 

"Would the contents be labelled?" 

"Of course. With the type of biological samples we handle here, instant and accurate identification is necessary. And before you ask, the labels and containers are both tamperproof." 

"Meaning...." 

"Meaning that once a container's been sealed, you can't remove the sample without leaving obvious traces. Similarly, you can't change the container's labelling without destroying the container itself." 

"You know what's missing, right?" 

Savois frowned slightly. "Apparently a cell sample from Sephiroth." 

"So anyone picking up the damned container could instantly tell...." 

"....that the sample inside was Sephiroth's. Unless they were totally illiterate." 

"Hmmmm." Cid glanced again at Tifa. She seemed oblivious to his conversation with Savois. Instead, she kept staring through the observation window at Cloud with an intensely worried look on her face. 

"Uh, Tifa? Tifa!" 

"Huh? Oh... sorry, Cid. I wasn't paying attention. What were you saying?" 

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back in a few minutes." 

Tifa didn't even bother asking why he was leaving. "Sure... no problem." Her gaze drifted back to Cloud. 

Cid grabbed Savois and pulled her out of the room. 

"Excuse me, Captain?" 

"I've got a few more questions to ask you. And Tifa's got enough on her mind." 

"Really?" 

------------------------- 

Once they had moved some distance away, he asked Savois, "Just one last thing, Doc." 

"Yes?" 

"If you don't use Quadrazin to knock out SOLDIERs, what do you use?" 

The pilot calmly exhaled a long stream of smoke as he stolidly returned Savois' stare. 

"Is this in reference to your friend, Captain?" 

"Just answer the goddamn question." 

"I thought you might ask. Follow me." She led Cid to a small alcove, pulled opened a drawer, and extracted a small briefcase. It was about the size of a large dictionary. She flipped the case open. Inside, Cid saw what appeared to be a compressed air pistol and a few packages of tranquilizer darts. 

"Use this." She held up her hand before Cid could say anything. "Considering what's happened today, I'm sure you're not inclined to trust me. Fine. I have no problem with that. Have each of the darts independently tested if you like. Any semi-competent doctor or chemist can do that. The drug and its use in SOLDIERs are all in the records. You can ask President Reeve for the standard SOLDIER medical files. Check it out for yourself. However, there are several things that you should know." 

"Yeah?" 

Savois held up one finger. "First point. This drug should be quite safe for your friend. However, if Hojo deviated substantially from the standard procedure for producing SOLDIERs... well, there might be complications." 

She held up a second finger. "Second point. These darts will definitely knock out a SOLDIER, even a berserk one. However, the drug is slow. Depending on dosage and placement of the darts, it could take anywhere from one to five minutes to take effect. In that time, the target can still do a lot of damage. Remember that. And if he has healing materia and uses it before the drug kicks in, you'll be exactly where you started." 

Cid frowned. "You've got nothing faster?" 

Savois shook her head. "Sorry. Your two options are either a fast, dangerous drug like Quadrazin or a slow, safe drug like this. The choices are very limited. The presence of Jenova cells causes lots of unpredictable drug interactions. The best way to handle it is to use a mixture of several drugs, but that's a job for experts. An amateur trying something like that can easily end up killing their target or just making things worse." 

"What about using materia?" 

"Sleep spells and similar things will work... sometimes. SOLDIERs typically have a higher resistance to those types of spells. I'm not sure whether it's from the Mako infusion or the Jenova cells... maybe both. The degree of resistance varies with the person and the situation. Some can be basically immune. Unfortunately, a life-or-death combat situation is not a good time to find out." 

Cid gave Savois a cynical look. "So tell me... why are you being so damn helpful, doc? What's in this for you?" 

She smiled coolly. "Because you're friends with the new president of Shinra. He happens to be the man holding the purse strings for research money. I've spent my life working on the SOLDIER program. Now that access to Mako power has been cut off and the SOLDIER program terminated, I'll need to find something else socially and politically acceptable to work on. The last thing I want is to have Reeve cut off this facility's funding because I wasn't cooperative. So it's purely self-interest. That's all." 

Cid nodded thoughtfully. 

------------------------- 

Tifa stared at Cloud as he slept and nervously chewed her fingernails. 

(Savois could be wrong... or she could be lying.... But it all fits....) 

There had been such anger... almost hatred in his eyes.... He hadn't been holding back at all when he had attacked her. 

(Damn you, Hojo! It's all your fault, really. You created Sephiroth... you did this to Cloud... it all comes back to you. Why won't you just die? What will it take to make you stay dead!?) 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5e: THE UNKNOWN JENOVA  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Back in Nibelheim, Red and Yuffie had settled into the basement library to read through whatever papers and notebooks they could find. Cait Sith sat in the corner, unmoving and quiet. When Yuffie heard Red mumbling irritably to himself, she wandered over to investigate. 

Yuffie said, "What's wrong, Red?" 

The beast sat back and rubbed its eyes. "I'm afraid I'm not terribly suited to reading for long periods of time. My people rely more on an oral tradition, not written words. And Hojo's handwriting is absolutely atrocious! I wish he wrote half as neatly as Grandfather Bugenhagen." 

"Lemme take a look at it." She picked up the notebook. 

"I appreciate the offer, Yuffie, but I'm afraid you don't have the scientific background to make sense of it." 

Looking at the notebook, she winced. Red had been right about Hojo's handwriting, not to mention that there were all sorts of diagrams with circles and arrows going all over the place. It looked like chocobo tracks... drunk chocobo tracks at that. 

"Ugh. You understand this garbage?" 

"I'm afraid I do. You know that Cloud said that Hojo's Project (A2) and Project (B) were complete failures." 

"Yeah." 

"Well, in this notebook, Hojo finally figures out the reason why things weren't working." 

"So what happened?" 

"At least for Project (A2), it's a surprisingly simple explanation. He was using the wrong type of Jenova cells." 

"Huh!? There's another type?" 

"There are actually two different types of Jenova cells. One type are the so-called 'ordinary' Jenova cells. They're only compatible with...." Red carefully flipped a few pages with an extended claw. "Ah, yes. They're only compatible with adolescent and post-adolescent humans ONLY." 

"Okay...." 

"The second type was discovered by Dr. Gast, who called them 'Jenova-core' cells. They were apparently quite distinct from the other Jenova cells. He used these special Jenova-core cells in his experiment with Lucrecia. The result of that experiment was Sephiroth. However, Dr. Gast didn't tell Hojo anything about finding or using the Jenova-core cells." 

"Wow. So that's why Dr. Gast's experiment worked and Hojo's didn't." 

"Exactly. Hojo used ordinary Jenova cells when he was trying to duplicate Gast's work." Red sighed heavily. "Those cells were not compatible with human fetuses. All the babies died and the women with them." 

"Shit! He has to kill off nearly twenty women before he figures out he's doing something wrong!? What an asshole! But if Hojo finally managed to find out about these Jenova-core cells, why didn't he just get some more and use them in his experiments?" 

Red chuckled softly. 

Yuffie scowled, "This isn't what I'd consider a funny topic, Red!" 

"On the contrary. I've found Hojo's dilemma very amusing." 

"Huh?" 

"He didn't use the Jenova-core cells because he couldn't." 

Yuffie looked baffled. 

"Hojo didn't learn about the Jenova-core cells until he found some of Dr. Gast's old notes. That was about two or three years ago. By that time, the only source of those special Jenova cells no longer existed." 

"What!?" 

"Dr. Gast extracted those cells from a very specific spot in Jenova's body." Red seemed uncharacteristically amused. "The head." 

Yuffie stood still for a long moment, then a big grin slowly appeared on her face. She started to snicker and choked out, "But six years ago, Sephiroth went wacko and hacked off Jenova's head. No more head, no more Jenova-core cells, no more baby Sephiroths.... Oh my god! Hojo must have thrown an absolute FIT when he found out!" 

"Exactly. He probably had the lab walled up in a fit of rage." 

After she managed to stop laughing, she said, "Why didn't Hojo use Sephiroth's cells? Wouldn't they contain some of those special Jenova-core thingies?" 

"Apparently not. According to Hojo's notes, the Jenova-core cells in Sephiroth's body had somehow altered or mutated. After testing...." 

Yuffie grimaced and muttered, "I can guess how he did THAT." 

Red coughed and continued speaking. "After extensive testing, Hojo concluded that Sephiroth's cells were basically toxic to human life. They would eventually kill any human they were injected into. The same mutation or genetic quirk was probably responsible for Hojo's inability to use Sephiroth's own cells to produce a real clone." 

"Whoa...." The ninja girl abruptly noticed the somber expression on Red's face. "What's wrong, Red? That's good news, right? No clones and all that jazz?" 

"I suppose...." 

She crouched down beside the red-furred beast. "C'mon, Red. Talk to me." 

He looked at her and said, "I was just thinking... really, it's quite foolish of me." 

Yuffie made an encouraging noise. 

"The mutation in the Jenova-core cells means that Sephiroth was a genetic dead-end. With Gast's death at Hojo's hands, the knowledge to produce more of Sephiroth's kind was lost... so there would never be any siblings for him. With the incompatibility of Sephiroth's cells with humans, there would never be any children. Sephiroth was unique. Alone." 

"...." 

Red hunched his shoulders. "It's just that... I suppose that I'm one of a kind too." 

Yuffie stared at him, then suddenly flung her arms around the startled Red and gave him a big hug. 

"Yuffie...?" 

She leaned back, wiped at her eyes, and sniffled a bit. "Sure... you might be one of a kind, you silly furball... but you're not alone, okay? What are friends for?" 

Red cocked his head, then he grinned at her. Gently patting her knee with a forepaw, he murmured, "Thank you very much." He glanced to the side, then whispered, "You better wipe your eyes and blow your nose unless you want Barret to know you've been crying." 

"Oh shoot!" Yuffie jumped to her feet and ran off to the far corner of the room where she pretended to be terribly busy flipping through papers. 

Red ruefully shook his head and resuming the tiresome task of trying to make heads or tails of Hojo's lab notes. A few minutes later, Barret stomped in. 

"How're you doing?" 

Red said, "We're making slow but steady progress. How about you...?" His voice faded when he saw Barret's grim expression. "Did you find something in that lab area Elena uncovered?" 

"Nope. Not a damn thing. We're pretty sure that it was used for Project (B) stuff, but it's been cleaned out recently. Really recently." 

"How recently?" 

"Within the last couple of days." 

Yuffie jumped up and yelled, "WHAT!? But that place was bricked over! There's no way that wall could be only a few days old!" 

"They didn't use the door. They tunneled down from the surface into the back of the lab and completely cleaned it out. The tunnel was dug within the last two days... three at the most." Barret pulled a fresh, green leaf out of his pocket. "We also found stuff like this scattered inside the lab." 

"So the lab's empty?" 

"There's not a damn thing left. No paper, no equipment... nothing." 

Yuffie clenched her fists. "Why that sneaky old bastard! Hojo must have ordered that tunnel dug just so he could snitch all that equipment without anyone knowing!" 

Barret nodded. "Yeah. If Spike hadn't specifically told us to look for those damn labs, Hojo would have gotten away with it." 

"Just how much was taken? Could you tell?" said Red. 

"I'm just guessing, but from the marks on the floors and the walls, I'd say there was a hell of a lot of stuff. Truckloads." 

The ninja girl said, "Hey.... That lab was supposed to be for Project (B), right?" 

"That's what Cloud said." Barret shrugged. 

"Project (B) was Hojo's attempt to directly clone Sephiroth, right? That's probably why Hojo needed that particular equipment!" Yuffie started pacing. "I bet that all that gear is being installed in one of Scarlet's weapon plants at this very moment! Once Hojo finds that missing cell sample of Sephiroth, he's going to have his cloning setup ready and waiting!" 

Barret shook his fists in the air. "Goddamn it!" 

Red growled, "So we're just going to have to find that sample first!" 

The black man bellowed, "But we have no fucking clues where to look! Hojo's probably got a hell of a lead, especially if that Stephen guy told him something important!" 

"Where are the Turks?" said Red. 

"They're on the surface, searching around the tunnel entrance." 

Yuffie was venting her anger and frustration by pacing and kicking things out of her path. As she sent a small book skittering underneath the huge desk, the book knocked a few stray papers into plain view. Her eye caught a glimpse of some familiar looking handwriting. She pounced on the papers. Still sitting on the ground, she quickly skimmed through them, then let out a warwhoop of triumph. 

"What the hell are you screeching about, girl?" Barret yelled angrily. 

"I found them!" 

"Found what!?" 

"The reports about Zack and Cloud's escape!" 

There was a wild scuffle as everyone grabbed for the papers. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5f: REUNITED  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Busy with her own thoughts, Tifa missed the first subtle signs of returning consciousness in Cloud... the faint twitch of a eyelid... the slight wrinkling of the forehead. But when he rolled over on the bed, she gasped, then ran into the next room. She waited anxiously as he continued to stir. 

Cloud slowly open his eyes. There was a faint look of panic as he quickly glanced around the room, but he relaxed as soon as he saw Tifa standing by his bedside. 

"Tifa...?" He tried to sit up. 

"Take it easy!" She immediately pushed him back down again. 

"What the hell happened?" 

She frowned. "Don't you remember?" 

Cloud's eyes suddenly widened in shock. "Dr. Roissy! She was already dead... for hours! Then Montessi... damn her." He reached up and absently kneaded his shoulder. 

"Will you be okay if I leave you alone. I need to tell Cid you're awake." 

"Sure." 

Tifa ran out into the hallway. Looking around, she saw Cid and Savois talking down the corridor. 

"Cid! Cloud's awake!" She quickly disappeared back inside the room. 

------------------------- 

The pilot was about to follow her when he noticed Savois looking at her watch. 

"What the hell's your problem?" 

The doctor frowned. "Your friend recovered very quickly. He should have been unconscious for at least three or four hours. By my best estimate, it's been less than two hours since he was drugged." 

Cid shrugged and headed down the hall. "Hey, that's good for him." 

Savois said sharply, "Is it? It may be good for your friend, but maybe not so good for you if you have to use this." She held the case with the tranquilizer gun and shook it slightly. 

He grimaced. "Shit." He found a notepad and scribbled a hasty message. "Have someone take that damned case and this note up to the Highwind." 

She nodded. "I'll drop by to check on your friend in a few minutes." 

------------------------- 

When he walked into room, Cid was relieved to find that Cloud seemed to be perfectly coherent, if understandably confused. Hiding a sigh of relief, he leaned lazily against the wall and said, "Glad you're back with us. And here I thought Tifa was the only one into that hand-to-hand stuff." 

"What do you mean?" Cloud looked startled. 

"Oh, the healing materia took care of most of it but you came damn close to cracking a few of my bones when you slammed me into a wall." 

"Huh?" 

Tifa glared at Cid. "It wasn't your fault, Cloud. You were badly confused by that drug Montessi used. When Cid rushed into the room, you accidentally slugged him." 

The pilot muttered, "Accident, like hell!" 

Cloud flushed with embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry about that, Cid." 

"Like she said, it's not your fault. Besides, I was careless. I should've seen you coming. But how are you feeling now?" 

"All right, I think. What happened to Montessi?" 

Cid grinned sourly. "Dead. Apparently her sister shot her when Montessi tried to sneak up on Tifa and stab her in the back with a scalpel." 

"Sister? Which sister?" 

"Savois." 

Cloud murmured softly, "The ice queen...." 

"The what?" 

The young man's attention was jerked back to Cid. "That's what one of the technicians said. He called Savois 'the ice queen'." 

"She sure as hell doesn't look like no ice queen, but it's a pretty good description of her personality. Not a lady to be messed with." 

After a quick knock, Savois entered the room. She stopped near the door and watched Cloud with a very neutral expression on her face. 

"Savois!" The first word out of Cloud's mouth surprised everyone, even himself. 

The doctor looked a little startled, but she quickly hid her surprise. "I'm glad to see that you've recovered from your involuntary nap. How are you feeling?" 

Cloud gave her a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh.... I'm feeling a bit woozy and I've got a slight headache, but other than that...." 

"It's quite normal." Savois stepped closer and lifted her hands. "Do you mind if I take a closer look at you?" 

"No." To his surprise, Cloud realized that he really didn't mind Savois touching him. Actually, the precise, impersonal touch of her fingers seemed oddly familiar. 

After a quick examination, Savois stepped back and said, "Well, you seem to be in excellent health and I can't find any lingering effects from the sedative Montessi gave you." 

Tifa said, "So he can leave?" 

"Certainly. There's no reason for him to stay. However, if the dizziness and the headache don't clear up after a hour or so, let me know. Oh, and for your information, one of my associates tells me that they took a closer look at my sister Roissy's body. She didn't die from injuries from the fall." 

"Then what...?" 

"She was suffocated, probably with a blanket or pillow." 

"You think that Montessi killed her?" said Tifa. 

"I'm not certain, but she was the attending physician. And she was apparently the last to see her before one of the orderlies reported her death." 

Cid pounded his fist against the wall. "I'll bet Roissy told her sister something important and Montessi killed her to keep that information a secret while she set up her trap for Cloud." 

"We may never know for certain." 

Savois shrugged, then gave Cloud a long, thoughtful stare... as if she was searching for something in his face or expression. Strangely enough, while Montessi's scrutiny had made him jittery and nervous, Savois' gaze didn't bother him at all. He cocked his head slightly and gave her a curious look. 

"Doctor?" 

She shrugged, then reached into her labcoat pocket. She pulled out a card and handed it to Cid. "President Reeve ordered us to provide you with all possible assistance. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any more questions." 

Savois gave Cid and Tifa a quick, meaningful glance, then disappeared out the door. 

Tifa said curiously, "Cloud? How did you know that was Savois?" 

Standing up, he muttered, "I'm not sure. I must have seen her somewhere before. She seemed kinda familiar to me." 

As Cloud was busy rearming himself and checking his gear, Tifa pulled Cid into the hallway and whispered, "Are you going to tell him about...?" 

The pilot looked at her. "You're talking about what the doc said about the side effects with the SOLDIER program." 

"Yes." 

Cid ran his fingers through his hair. "Aw hell! Probably...." 

Tifa opened her mouth to object, but he raised his hand. "Listen, Tifa. You can't protect him, especially against something like this. Cloud really needs to get a better idea what's going on in his own head." 

"But Cid...." She clenched her fists. "I don't want him to worry about...." 

"Come on, girl. Cloud already knows that his brain's all fucked up! Don't you think he hasn't figured most of this out by now? Hiding what Savois said won't make his problems go away!" 

Tifa said bitterly, "And even if he knows, exactly what good is that going to do?" 

"I don't know." He shrugged. "We could always ask Savois for more information." 

"Don't tell me that you trust that woman!?" 

"Hell, no! Are you crazy? But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't pay attention to what she's saying. And if her credentials check out, she's probably got the most experience with this SOLDIER stuff." 

"I still don't like it!" 

"Kiddo, nobody said you have to like it. You just have to deal with it." 

Tifa might have continued arguing, but the sound of an opening door cut the conversation short. As Cloud joined them, he said, "C'mon guys. Let's go pick up the others." 

------------------------- 

As they headed toward the Highwind, Cid and Tifa told Cloud the little they knew about Montessi and her attempt to abduct him. 

"So what did hell did she want with me? What could Roissy have possibly told her?" Cloud asked irritably. 

Cid snorted. "Hell as if I know. Maybe she thought you might know where that damn cell sample was. She was looking really flaky and babbling about some grand 'quest for scientific knowledge'." 

Cloud grimaced. "Sounds just like Hojo. Anything else?" 

"Aside from unloading some other crap and yelling at Savois, Montessi didn't really say much." 

"And now she's dead and we'll probably never know!" Cloud clenched his fists in frustration. "How come it seems that every time we run into someone who might know what happened to that damn sample, they end up dead?" 

Tifa muttered, "Sounds way too convenient to me...." 

------------------------- 

On the bridge of the Highwind, Tifa glared at Cid, then stomped off. 

"What's wrong?" asked Cloud. 

Cid muttered, "Because there's some more stuff you probably need to know. According to her, Savois was pretty involved in the SOLDIER program. Apparently, she knew Zack pretty well, too." 

Cloud looked surprised. "Really? How did that happen?" 

Cid told Cloud pretty much everything about Savois' intimate connection with the SOLDIER program, although there a few uncomfortable things the pilot skimmed over. The only part Cid completely left out was his private discussion with Savois. 

(There's no point in bringing that up... at the moment.) 

Cloud wearily rubbed his hand over his face. "So.... Savois knew Zack pretty well and she even recognized me." He leaned against one of the consoles and muttered in a resigned voice, "That stuff about the SOLDIER program... that's not much of a surprise. And the criteria for SOLDIER selection couldn't have been that much of a secret, either. It makes me wonder what the hell I was thinking of back then. How could I be so blind not to realize that I had absolutely no chance of making it into SOLDIER? If it weren't for that maniac Hojo and his crazy experiments...." 

"Yeah." Looking uncomfortable, Cid groped for a change of topic. Finally, he recalled something that had been nagging at him. 

"Cloud, this Savois woman. She says that she was a scientist who's worked on the SOLDIER project for the last thirty years. But I've got to tell you, she's really got some slick moves. Maybe she's telling the truth about her scientific background, but I also bet she's got some military experience, too." 

Cloud looked up. "I don't see how that could be, but you might ask Reeve to check her story. You can't take anything these scientists say at face value." 

Before they could pursue the topic any further, Cloud's phone rang. 

"Yeah? What's up, Red?" 

"We have some good news and some bad news." 

"Okay. What's the good news?" 

"We finally located those reports related to your escape from Nibelheim." 

"Where were they?" 

"Laying on the floor in the back room of the library. We even have Hojo's handwritten 'comments' scribbled all over on them." 

"Great going, guys!" said Cid. 

Cloud added, "Do they give us some locations?" 

"Yes. They're quite specific. From these papers, I think we can put together a fairly accurate guess of your travels." Red paused, then added. "We also now know exactly where Zack was killed." 

Cloud took a deep breath. "I see. And the bad news?" 

"You know that lab area Elena located?" 

"Yes." 

"It's totally empty. We think Hojo took all the equipment and papers that he used in Project (B) within the last several days." 

"How on earth did he manage that without anyone knowing!?" shouted Cid. 

After Red told them about the secret tunnel into the basement lab area, the beast said, "Did you find out anything useful from Roissy?" 

"Not really. She's dead." 

"What happened?" asked Red. 

Cloud sighed and handed the phone to Cid. The pilot drawled, "Oh nothing much. We think that weird chick Montessi killed her own sister Roissy after pumping her for information. Montessi then made a stupid, half-assed attempt to kidnap Cloud...." 

Cloud turned a deep red and covered his eyes. "Cid...." 

"WHAT!?" Barret bellowed over the phone. 

Cloud snatched the phone from Cid's hands, gave him a dirty look and hurriedly said, "I'll tell you guys about it later. About those reports...." 

Red said, "Well, unless someone has any other suggestions, perhaps we should start at the end of the trail and backtrack if necessary." 

"You mean where Zack died," Cloud said softly. 

"Yes. It's a place just south of Midgar." 

Cid said, "We'll head to Nibelheim and pick up you guys up." 

Cait Sith jumped into the conversation. "I've got a better idea. Why don't we met you halfway? I'll have someone fly us to Costa del Sol. You can met us there. We can save some valuable time." 

Red said, "Yes. That way, we can take a look at the location before it gets dark. Otherwise, we would have to wait until tomorrow." 

"All right. See you in a few," said Cid. 

"We'll be ready." 

------------------------- 

Hojo's preparations were complete. It was time for the Failure to perform one last service for the sake of science.... 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5g: ULTERIOR MOTIVES  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Dr. Savois watched the Highwind depart the ESSARUF facility for the second time, then headed back to the lab where Montessi's body was still lying on the floor. In the front room of the lab area, she found a young security guard nervously waiting for her. 

"Ma'am?" 

"Do you have it?" 

"Yes, Ma'am. The video from the security camera for the back lab room and Dr. Roissy's room." He looked slightly sick. 

She took the tape from his shaking hands and said, "You are to say nothing about this incident, especially about the actual cause of Dr. Montessi's death. Is that clear?" 

"Yes, ma'am." 

"Dismissed." 

After the security guard scurried off, Savois walked through the all the broken doors into the back lab. As she knelt down by her sister's body and examined it carefully, Savois was glad that Highwind and that Lockheart girl had been too busy with their friend to pay any attention to Montessi's body. 

Her sister had not died from gunshot wounds. 

Montessi had been beaten to death... her neck broken, most of her ribs shattered, and her pelvis snapped in two places, not to mention massive injury to various major internal organs. 

Savois placed her sister's body in a body bag herself, then had the corpse taken to her lab. As she watched the video from the security cameras back in her office, the scientist frowned in annoyance. 

(Montessi, you idiot. You deliberately provoked Cloud, didn't you? I warned you. You weren't dealing with some poor, sick teenager like before. You were facing a young man with all the physical abilities and skills of a SOLDIER... and more. Much more.) 

As she impassively watched the videotape of Cloud brutally beating her sister Montessi to death, Savois sat back in her chair and contemplated the current situation. 

(Well, it seems that I was a little too optimistic. The implantation wasn't completely successful... yet. The resident personality is still partially intact.) 

But it was also undeniable that her project was a substantial success. He had recognized her. And that little grin he gave her... that was familiar too. 

She briefly closed her eyes and luxuriated in sheer relief. So many chances for failure... so many opportunities for disaster.... 

(Just over three years....) It had been three years since she'd discovered that Zack was still alive as Hojo's prisoner. 

Savois' hand curled into a fist. 

(Hojo, you bastard....) 

It had also been three years since she'd learned that Zack had been dying. 

Very, very slowly, perhaps -- he could have easily lived for another five to ten years with every appearance of good health. However, that didn't change the fact that Zack's body was being steadily and inexorably destroyed. 

(And that was entirely your fault, Sephiroth. You do take after your father Hojo, contaminating everything you touch....) 

It was during those days of anger and fury following that discovery that she had conceived of her grand experiment. It sprang from equally from inspiration and desperation. It was a step beyond what even Hojo could have imagined. Being barred from Nibelheim had only been a minor setback. It had been easy to obtain her sister Montessi's unwitting assistance. 

The project had been progressing steadily... until Roissy's idiot lover Stephen managed to let both Zack and Cloud escape. 

Zack had died but Cloud had survived, so she had watched and waited. And the longer she observed him, the more certain she was that despite all the interference suffered, her experiment had actually succeeded. Even Sephiroth's meddling and manipulation of Cloud had ended up working to her advantage. 

She had continued her observation of Cloud in the months following the Meteor incident, constantly looking for an opportunity to approach him. However, she knew all too well that Cloud would be extremely wary and hostile to any Shinra scientist. So she had continued to wait. 

But it seemed that her patience and restraint had been amply rewarded. Montessi's moronic attempt to kidnap Cloud had provided the perfect opening for her. If she played her cards right, she wouldn't have to do anything suspicious at all. Cloud -- or his friends -- would come to her. 

Hojo and Sephiroth... two men whose interference and meddling had nearly destroyed everything she'd worked for. Nearly a year had passed since Meteor. She'd thought she was rid of them forever. Now Hojo was back from the grave and it seemed that Sephiroth was likely to follow. But this time, she was not about to sit back and let them destroy her hard work. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 5h: A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The trip over the ocean was the perfect opportunity for everyone to pool their various bits of information. Nearly everyone got a few laughs when Red described all the setbacks and dead-ends Hojo suffered with his Jenova projects. Not that it was a particularly funny topic, but they were all desperate for any humor, no matter how macabre. Even Cloud got some satisfaction out of the story. It was so easy for him to picture Hojo throwing an absolute temper tantrum over the loss of the Jenova-core cells. 

By the time that the Highwind II picked up the others and returned to the Eastern continent, it was late afternoon. Following the coordinates on the reports, they headed for the mountains south of Midgar. As the Highwind II came to a stop above the designated spot, Yuffie muttered, "Does this spot look REALLY familiar to anyone?" 

Cid glared at the ninja girl. "You damn well know it does. This was the very same outcrop Cloud fell off of just two days ago! Vincent, do you think that body you found...?" 

The dark man nodded. 

The significance of the location had not escaped Cloud. If he hadn't immediately recognized the place from the air, it certainly looked familiar from the ground. It was the same overview of Midgar that he saw a couple of days ago, through the rain. But aside from the events of that day, the outcrop held no clear memories for him. When he heard Cid's comments, he turned and sharply asked, "What body?" 

Vincent glanced briefly at Cid, then said, "Near the edge of the cliff, under some bushes, I found pieces of a human skeleton. It's probably been there for at least a year." He paused, then added, "The skull has black hair on it." 

Cloud turned pale. "....Zack...." 

"Oh man...." Yuffie muttered. 

As the crewmen rolled out a rope ladder, Cid couldn't help but wonder what had brought Cloud to this outcrop two days ago. Had it been sheer coincidence? Or had a feeling or a long buried memory drawn him here? 

(Coincidence? Like hell!) 

He glanced at the Turks. "Hey! Elena, Rude... you guys mind staying on board to keep an eye on things? Hojo seems to have a goddamn army of monsters at his beck and call. I don't want any weird critters sneaking up on the Highwind...." 

The two Turks looked at each other and shrugged. Elena said, "No problem. I have a few phone calls to make. Do you mind stopping by Midgar when we're through? I need to pick up some gear and I'm tired of wearing these crew uniforms." 

"Sure, no problem." 

------------------------- 

Cloud only took a quick glance of the skeleton, but that had been more than enough for him. While the others spread out to search the surrounding area, he remained where he was, well away from the cliff edge and the body. The whole outcrop area made his skin crawl. It was both familiar and unfamiliar, and the inconsistency just added to his sense of anxiety. To compound the problem, Cloud felt an odd, very faint ache in his bones. And there were other things that were bothering him.... 

As he stared out at the city of Midgar, Tifa walked up behind him. "Cloud, how are you holding up?" 

He shrugged. "I'm okay." He then abruptly shook his head. "No, that's wrong. I'm not okay." 

Cloud began to pace restlessly. "Why? Why don't I remember this place? Zack, my best friend... the man who spent five years in hell with me...the guy who rescued me from Hojo's lab, died here. And I remember NOTHING?" There was a mixture of anger and frustration in his voice. 

He stared at Tifa. "It never stops. It's like my mind is like one of those stupid boxes-inside-boxes things. Every time I think I've got my head sorted out, I find another secret. Another sealed box. It makes me wonder what else I've 'conveniently' forgotten." 

"Don't push yourself...." 

"Tifa, I have to. How can I even think of a future if I don't come to terms with my past somehow? I can't just ignore it." He gave her a somber, thoughtful look. 

She shifted nervously under his steady gaze. "Ummm...." Tifa silently berated herself for not being able to say anything more meaningful. 

He took a step closer to her and said quietly, "Tifa, I've been wanting to tell you this for some time." 

"Yes?" 

"I'm sorry." 

Her head jerked up in surprise. "Sorry? For what?" 

"For all the worry... all the uncertainty... and all the waiting." 

"I... I don't mind. Really." 

"I've been afraid to say anything. I still am. I won't blame you for just giving up...." 

Tifa looked visibly insulted. "Listen, Cloud.... I'm not a quitter, okay?" 

"But..." He ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. "But things are so complicated now... You've got no idea what you're getting yourself into...." 

"But I do know!" she protested vigorously. 

Cloud gave Tifa a cryptic, sideways look. "Do you? Really?" 

She opened her mouth, but the recollection of recent events momentarily robbed her of any words. 

"My memories are still all screwed up. There are times I can't even think straight, much less try to sort out my feelings about you, Aeris...." 

The sound of Aeris' name was like a bucket of cold water to Tifa. It completely shattered the fragile intimacy between her and Cloud. She looked away and muttered, "Oh. That's... too bad." 

He felt Tifa's abrupt withdrawal. Cloud looked at her helplessly, unable to find the words to bridge the emotional gap that had suddenly opened up between them. He sighed quietly. 

(Maybe it's for the best....) 

------------------------- 

Yuffie glanced behind her to see Cloud and Tifa quietly talking some distance away. She sniffed and muttered, "It's about time!" 

Red, his nose to the ground, absently said, "About time for what?" 

"About time Cloud got up his courage and said something to Tifa about his feelings!" 

The beast looked up at her. "And what precisely is he supposed to tell her?" 

"That he loves her, of course! She deserves SOME happiness...." 

"Yes, he probably does love Tifa. But what kind of love?" 

"What do you mean?" 

Red shook his head and patiently answered, "Yuffie, there are many types of love. Love of the body, love of the heart, love of the mind, love of the soul.... If Cloud's love is different from Tifa's...." 

"Okay, okay! I got your point! Sheesh! Well, EXCUSE me for being a romantic!" Yuffie snorted. "So tell me, what the hell are we looking for, anyway?" 

"One of those sample cylinders, just like the others in the security room in the ESSARUF facility. About four inches long and about an inch in diameter. Fluorescent yellow and green markings." 

"Oh, one of those...." 

Barret wandered over to them and said as quietly as he could manage, "Red, do you think Vincent's okay? I mean, after finding out what Hojo was doing with all those women...." 

The beast sighed and scratched his ear. "He said he was fine. We'll just have to accept his word for now." 

"And what's up with Reeve? He seems so out of it...." 

"Don't forget, Barret. In addition to going through all those Jenova and personnel files, he has a great deal of responsibility for running Shinra and Midgar itself. I really do think he needs some assistance on his end." 

"Yeah, yeah...," Barret muttered. 

Yuffie said, "You noticed, too, huh? Why do I get this feeling he's hiding something important?" 

Red glanced at her. "Any reason for that feeling?" 

"Nope. Just an instinct, I guess." 

Barret muttered, "You mean an instinct for being so damn sneaky...." 

"Why you big jerk...!" 

------------------------- 

Vincent carefully reexamined the skeleton he had found earlier. He picked up numerous small objects lying amid the bones. (Bullets. That matches with the report which said that Zack had been shot while resisting. There's nearly an full ammo clip's worth of bullets here. Typical Shinra overkill.) 

That didn't explain the other injuries... the bones that were cleanly sheared into pieces... the huge gash right down the middle of the skull. They weren't the marks of scavengers. Scavengers would have left splintered bone, not such brutally precise cuts. 

(No, this was the type of damage deliberately inflicted by a sharp-edged instrument or weapon... an ax or a sword, most likely.) 

But that made even less sense. Vincent knew that certain members of the Shinra military carried swords and other bladed weapons... but not many. Swords were a fairly elite type of weapon, generally reserved for highly skilled officers or specialists such as members of SOLDIER or the Turks. Ordinary troopers usually carried firearms. 

There was another, even more disturbing, question on Vincent's mind -- one involving the sheer number of cuts and the force required to inflict them. As he ran his fingers along the end of a severed thigh bone, he thought, (Far too many for normal hand-to-hand combat. Any two of these injuries would have been fatal, even for a SOLDIER. So why so many?) 

Cid squatted down next to Vincent. "Man, you look like a guy with a serious problem. What's up?" 

At first he thought that Vincent wasn't going to reply. Ever since the gristly discovery of Hojo's Project (A2), Vincent had been more brooding and withdrawn than usual. Just being around the guy was like standing next to a ticking bomb. It wasn't a question of 'if' it was going to explode, but a matter of 'when'. 

Vincent finally spoke. "Many questions and no answers." 

------------------------- 

Cloud gradually became more and more uneasy as the minutes slid into hours. Something about the rocky location was driving him crazy. It was a nerve-wracking sensation, like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard... only a hundred times worse. The only other place that had a remotely similar effect on him was the basement of the Shinra Mansion. 

Finally, in an effort to distract himself, Cloud took to pacing and going over everything he knew about the cell sample. And the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Frowning, he muttered, "If Zack took the sample, he must have known about its contents. I mean, the contents were written right on the label. So what would he have done with it? The whole thing doesn't... feel right." 

// If you have a problem, take care of it.  


// Do it right the first time around.   


// You don't want it coming back to haunt you.... // 

(So... what's the worst thing that could have possibly happened....) 

Cloud suddenly shook his head violently and said, "This is all wrong! Something doesn't fit at all!" 

"What?" exclaimed Cid and Red together. 

Cloud looked at his friends. He said urgently, "It's taken me this long to find the big hole in Roissy's story. Why on earth would Zack bother to steal the sample?" 

"To keep it out of Hojo's hands. Any idiot could see that." Barret sounded really annoyed. 

But Cloud slowly shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense. Carry it around when there was a definite possibility of getting recaptured? Cait, you said that Zack knew he was being pursued." 

Cait Sith said, "Yes... but he could have stashed it somewhere. I mean, you guys traveled all the way from Nibelheim to Midgar. There would have been plenty of opportunities to find a hiding place for it. No one except for Dr. Roissy knew that it was even missing, so it should have been pretty safe to leave it behind." 

Cloud shook his head again and quietly said, "You guys are looking at this the wrong way. You're thinking of that cell sample as some sort of asset for Zack... something valuable or useful to him. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would have been nothing more than a severe liability for someone in his position. He already had to worry about pursuit AND taking care of a helpless invalid. Why take on another, completely unnecessary burden?" 

Cid stood up and said slowly, "Go on. We're listening." 

"What is the WORST possible thing that could have happened to that sample? Ending back in Hojo's hands, right? And no matter how elusive Zack might have been... no matter how carefully that sample might have been hidden, there would always be a risk that it could be found. There's only one way to make absolutely, positively sure that never happened...." 

Red nodded slowly. "By destroying it immediately." 

"Exactly." 

"Maybe Zack took the sample with him because he didn't want Hojo to know it had been destroyed," Tifa suggested. 

"Why?" 

"Because Hojo would have been angry...." 

Cloud interrupted her. "Zack disliked Hojo a lot, but he wasn't afraid of him or his anger. Besides, Hojo already had plenty of samples from Sephiroth. What's one, more or less?" 

"Well... I don't know. Weren't Zack and Sephiroth supposed to be friends? Maybe he couldn't bring himself to...." Yuffie's voice trailed off as she watched Cloud shake his head almost angrily. 

"Zack won't have kept something so dangerous just for sentimental reasons. And he wouldn't have wanted -- or needed -- such a grotesque memento. So what possible use could Zack have for that cell sample?" 

All he got was blank looks. 

"Exactly. None. Zack had NOTHING to gain from taking that cell sample, NOTHING to gain by keeping it, and NOTHING to gain by hiding its destruction from Hojo." 

Cid said, "So... are you saying that Roissy's story about Sephiroth's cell sample was just a bunch of bullshit?" 

Cloud looked at the pilot. "No. Remember, Dr. Stephen confirmed most of Roissy's story. I'm fairly sure the sample does exist or did exist. But I don't think Zack took it." 

Red exhaled slowly. "But... where does that leave us?" 

"I don't know. Excluding Hojo, the only people who might have known what the hell was going on were Dr. Roissy, Dr. Montessi, and Dr. Stephen...." 

"And they're all dead." 

Cloud nodded wearily. 

"Could Zack have had some crazy idea of resurrecting Sephiroth himself?" rumbled Barret. 

Cloud said firmly, "Absolutely not. Anyone could see that Sephiroth was totally insane. Without any idea what really drove him crazy in the first place, it would've been incredibly stupid to even consider bringing him back to life." 

Barret complained, "Hey! I thought he went bonkers when he found out about Jenova being an Ancient or space alien or something!" 

Cloud smiled grimly. "Oh, I think there was a lot more to it than that. A LOT more.... He didn't just fall off the edge of sanity. Someone or someTHING damn well kicked him off." 

// There are a lot of things that are   


// much worse than death.... // 

His voice dropped. "For a normal person, the idea of going crazy is bad enough. But for someone who keeps himself under such tight control as Sephiroth, insanity is worse... infinitely worse... than death. Given a choice, I'm sure he would have chosen to die first." 

"And if he didn't have a choice?" Red murmured. 

"Someone else had to make that choice for him." 

"Like who?" said Tifa. 

Cloud's voice went very soft. "Me. I did. I made that decision in the Mt. Nibel Reactor... when I tried to kill him." He briefly glanced away before turning back to his friends. 

"Besides, the only person who had any sort of expertise in creating a clone would have been Hojo... the VERY last person on this Planet I would have trusted with Sephiroth's well-being." 

Red suddenly pricked up his ears. Something subtle had changed in Cloud's speech, but he couldn't quite put his paw on it.... 

"Can you imagine what sort of devil's bargain Hojo would have demanded for his cooperation? No way. Seph despised Hojo with a passion. I could just imagine his reaction if I'd been stupid enough to make any sort of deal with Hojo...." 

Red suddenly stiffened. (Hold it! "If I'd been...."? When did Cloud switch from using third-person phrases like 'Zack', 'he, and 'him' to using first-person words such as 'I'!?) 

Cid's cigarette hit the ground as the pilot gaped at Cloud. ('Seph'!? Did he just call that bastard Sephiroth by a bleedin' NICKNAME?) 

The stunned looks slowly appearing on the others' faces made it clear that they had also realized something unusual had happened. 

[ flash ] 

/ ShutupShutUPSHUTTHEFUCKUP!!! / 

[ flash ] 

Cloud suddenly blinked, then winced in pain as he grabbed at his head. 

"What the...?" He glanced up to see a shocked and frightened look in Tifa's eyes. 

She stared back at him. (Oh my god. Does he have ANY idea what he's just been saying!?) 

Cloud looked around the clearing in a daze, then his eyes focused on the skeleton near the edge of the cliff. As the few remaining dark strands of hair clinging to the shattered skull fluttered in the faint spring breeze, his confused expression shifted to a look of near panic. 

He felt like he was being suffocated by the emotions stamping through his mind like soldiers on parade -- envy... hatred... rage... dread... then finally, guilt and shame that threatened to suck him down into never-ending oblivion.... But hidden deep beneath the self-loathing and denial -- buried far beyond any hope of conscious recall -- was something even more intolerable.... 

....a sickening sense of satisfaction and pleasure. 

He stumbled back a step and held up his hands as if to fend off some invisible apparition. "No...," he whispered. "That's not.... That wasn't me...." 

"Cloud!?" 

He flinched at the sound of his name, then abruptly turned and bolted away from the outcrop... away from the source of his pain and terror. 

By the time his friends managed to shake off their shock and surprise, Cloud had disappeared deep into the leafy undergrowth. 

------------------------- 

Cloud wasn't paying any attention to where he was going. All he knew was that he wanted to be as far away from THAT place as possible. 

// Running away isn't going to do any good.... // 

As soon as he was out of sight of the outcrop, the overwhelming sense of panic and fear rapidly faded. As Cloud finally started to think rationally again, he came to a stop in a large clearing. He leaned back against a tree trunk and buried his face in his hands. 

(What the hell am I doing!? Oh god. They've probably think I've totally snapped. And they could be right. Why the hell am I feeling this way? Why does that... place... frighten me so much?) 

Just the thought of going back to the outcrop made his stomach churn. And there had been something else wrong even before he started acting like a total idiot.... 

(Cid and the others were giving me weird looks. How come? I was just telling them why Roissy's story didn't make any sense. So what happened? What did I say or do to make them so upset?) 

------------------------- 

Tifa had been the first in pursuit. But during the first few seconds of confusion, Cloud had vanished from sight. Fortunately for her, his trail wasn't too hard to follow. She charged through the undergrowth, the others hot on her heels. 

Cid muttered, "Fuck it! What the hell brought THAT on? The look on his face...." 

Vincent quietly murmured, "As if he was staring into the pits of hell." 

Cid glanced at him. "Yeah...." If he didn't feel sorry for the kid before, he certainly did now. He wouldn't forget that terribly wounded look in Cloud's eyes any time soon.... 

Guilt. Cid was familiar with that emotion. Most fighters encountered it eventually... usually as the guilt of surviving missions when friends and comrades didn't. 

(But Cloud looked like he was feeling something a hell of a lot worse than mere survivor's guilt. And what set him off? Was it talking about Zack? Was it this spot? Maybe both? And doesn't that put an interesting new spin on Cloud's 'accident' here....) 

Cid found himself seriously wondering if Cloud's fall two days ago had really been an 'accident'. (What if he had freaked out back then? Cloud could have easily plunged off the damned cliff in some crazy attempt to escape... whatever.) 

The pilot frowned as a more disturbing possibility presented itself. (Or maybe he tried to kill himself. Hell, we may never know!) He picked up his pace. 

"Watch it, Cid! You nearly clobbered me in the face with that damned branch!" Yuffie whined behind him. 

"Can it, kiddo! We've got more important things to worry about than your damned complexion!" 

------------------------- 

Tifa could heard the others some distance behind her, but she was too impatient and too worried to wait for them to catch up. As she fought her way through the tall scrub looking for Cloud, her mind kept drifting back to his last coherent sentences. 

(I knew he 'borrowed' a lot of Zack's memories, but the way he suddenly started speaking... it was if he really thought he WAS Zack... or for a brief moment, at least. Didn't Savois something about....) 

She shook her head. She had to concentrate on finding him first. The rest of the questions could wait. 

Tifa broke into a clearing to find Cloud leaning against a tree at the opposite side of the clearing. Even as she watched, he suddenly buried his face in his hands and shuddered. 

"Cloud....?" 

As she ran toward him, she heard him mumble, "Why did I...? What have I done? What am I DOING...?" 

Alarmed, she stepped even closer. "Cloud!" 

He stiffened, then slowly turned his head. He stared at her blankly, his thoughts obviously elsewhere. 

"Are you all right?" 

Cloud blinked, shook his head as if to clear it. "Tifa, I....." 

He made an frustrated gesture and started to turn away, then he jerked his head back around to stare in her direction. Tifa saw his eyes narrow and his body tense. Suddenly, Cloud lunged toward her, one hand grabbing for her while he yanked the Ultima Weapon out of its sheath with the other. 

Already rattled by his strange behavior on the cliff just a few minutes AND his vicious attack back at the ESSARUF facility, she instinctively backed out of reach and shouted, "No, Cloud! What are you....!" 

Cloud's hand finally closed on Tifa's arm in a brutally hard grip and he started to drag her out of the clearing. 

------------------------- 

When they heard Tifa's cries just ahead of them, the others all charged in that direction. 

They broke into the clearing just in time to see Tifa struggling to free herself from Cloud's grasp. Cloud stood with his weapon drawn, his face was set in an expression which combined fierce determination with unmistakable desperation as he tried to drag her into the surrounding woods. 

Yuffie moaned, "Oh no!" 

"Cloud!" roared Red. 

"The kid's lost it again!" Barret bellowed. 

As she continued to struggle, Tifa shouted, "Cloud! Stop it!" 

"Damn it, Tifa!" His head whipped around and he glared at her. She was shocked by both the alarm and the utter sanity in his eyes. Only then did she realize that Cloud knew EXACTLY what he was doing. She stopped resisting... but it was too late. 

He suddenly shoved Tifa as hard as he could in the others' direction and shouted, "Get back! It's a trap...!" 

Cid and the others finally noticed what Cloud had seen rising up among the trees behind Tifa's vulnerable back. What they had all initially assumed to be a dead tree trunk suddenly rippled into motion. The creature opened a jagged mouth and exhaled a thick, roiling cloud of black mist that enveloped him and most of the clearing. He held his breath but as soon as the fine droplets touched his skin, he felt his limbs go weak. 

Thrown through the air like a child's toy, Tifa slammed into Cait Sith. As she, the cat, and the Mog desperately tried to untangle themselves, they could only watch in horror as Cloud staggered, coughing and wheezing. The tree-serpent exhaled again. This time, his legs folded and he slowly collapsed. 

"CLOUD!!!" 

They all watched as the black mist sank and settled into a shallow, murky blanket that clung to the ground. Any vegetation touched by the dark mist began to wither, blacken and die before their very eyes. But surprisingly, Cloud appeared unharmed and the Ultima Weapon continued to glow brightly as it lay in his limp hand. Tifa tried to run to his side, but she screamed in agony as soon as she stepped into the mist-filled clearing. Angry red sores erupted all over her bare legs. Cait Sith quickly snatched her out of the blackened area before she could collapse face-first into the caustic mist. The Mog pinned her thrashing body to the ground as the little cat dumped a healing potion on the now blackening patches on her legs. 

Vincent's first shot blasted the serpent-tree creature's head apart. But another head arose from the nearby trees... then another.... and another. The surrounding brush seemed to erupt as a horde of assorted monsters lunged at them -- and all of these creatures were much more lethal than the puny insectoid creatures they'd encountered at Nibelheim. In addition to vicious creatures like the whip-cats and the poison bats from the ESSARUF facility, there were slimy things that spat caustic goo, flyers with masses of razor-tipped tentacles, short hulking monsters with huge bludgeons for arms.... In no time, they and the Highwind II were mobbed by attackers from every side. 

"Where the fuck did all these things come from!?" Cid shouted. 

Fortunately for Tifa, Cait Sith's hasty first aid appeared to work. At least her burns were not worsening. 

"Tifa, are you all right!?" yelled Barret. 

She blinked back involuntary tears of pain. "Yea... yeah. God, it hurts!" But she didn't let the pain stop her from struggling back to her feet. 

Cait Sith said, "Stay back and use your materia! You're in no shape to fight!" 

Tifa didn't even bother to argue. She started flinging offensive spells with fierce concentration. 

------------------------- 

As he hit the ground, Cloud felt his perceptions start to skew. But even as his vision went hazy and sounds blurred into incomprehensible nonsense, he could guess what was going on around him. His friends were desperately fighting for their lives and he could nothing to help them. 

A large dark shadow suddenly loomed over him.... 

------------------------- 

Elena was standing by the bridge windows taking a coffee break. Rude was up on deck, playing lookout. 

(How long are they going to stay down there? Did they find anything? Hell, is this getting us any closer to Reno? Maybe I should stay behind in Midgar and help Reeve. If I could pinpoint some likely locations that have the right equipment....) She spent the next few moments plotting out some possible computer searches. 

The Highwind suddenly shook and rocked. Elena yelped as she spilt hot coffee all down her borrowed crew uniform. Before she could find someone to yell at, there was a loud scream as the body of a crewman plunged past the bridge windows just a few feet from her face. 

"Oh shit, not again...," she snarled. There was an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu as Elena checked her gun and materia, then ran for the deck stairs to help Rude. 

------------------------- 

As they hacked, slashed, shot, and blasted everything in sight, Tifa saw a huge winged creature scoop Cloud up in its tentacles and fly away. She screamed, "NO!!!" but before anyone could stop the kidnapper, the monsters suddenly redoubled their attacks, destroying any chance of catching the creature holding Cloud. 

Cid shouted, "Shit! Barret, Vincent! You've got help the Turks get those fuckin' things off the Highwind if we're goin' to have any chance of followin' that bastard!" 

Barret grunted and started picking off the aerial creatures swarming the Highwind II. 

------------------------- 

Precious minutes ticked by as they fought their way clear. But even as they struggled valiantly, Cloud's abductor soon vanished into the distance. By the time the last monster died, the winged beast and Cloud were long gone. All that was left was the Ultima Weapon, protruding from the earth like a lonely memorial to their vanished friend. As Cid and the others silently stared, the reddish light from the setting sun gave the darkened blade an almost bloody sheen. 

-------------------------  
(end of Part 5) 

********************************************************************** 

In part 6,   


- Nightmares rule! 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	6. COI Part 6

Last major revision: 10/09/98  
Last modified: 11/18/99 

Here is the rough draft to part 6. It has not been spell-checked or extensively proofread. Expect errors. Subject to change without notice 

C&C always appreciated! ^_^ 

======================================================================  


CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  


PART 6: THE JAWS OF THE BEAST  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

---------------  
Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // are mental dialogue  


[ ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects  


--------------- indicate the START of flashbacks/dreams  


--------------- indicate the END of flashbacks/dreams 

********************************************************************** 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6a: RECRIMINATIONS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The sun was just disappearing under the horizon as a cool evening breeze swept away the last traces of the caustic black mist from the area. Tifa shook off Yuffie's supporting arm and slowly limped her way into the clearing where the Ultima Weapon stood, a third of its length buried in the soft earth. She wrapped her hand around the hilt, then slowly sagged to her knees. The blade remained dark, as it always did when not in Cloud's hands. She whispered, "Hojo, you fucking son of a bitch...." 

Yuffie cautiously followed Tifa, her feet raising little puffs of dust as the mist-blackened vegetation in the clearing crumbled to powder at the slightest touch. A glimmer caught her eye. She bent over and picked up Cloud's materia-laded Mystile. Instead of gloating over the fortune in materia sitting her hands, the ninja girl stared at it grimly, carefully dusted it off, and then tucked it away into a pocket. 

Tifa whispered, "It's all my fault...." 

Yuffie glanced up and said, "What?" 

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't been struggling... fighting him so hard... if I had only BELIEVED in him... Cloud wouldn't have been...." 

"Tifa, don't blame yourself for what happened! With the way Cloud freaked out back there, anyone would have assumed the same thing! And it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. I don't know how all those creatures managed to pop out of nowhere, but I'm willing to bet that running wouldn't have made much of a difference." 

Tifa didn't seem to be paying much attention to Yuffie's words. She whispered, "I wonder if that's the last thing he'll remember about me... that I was AFRAID of him...." 

"Don't say that. We're going to get him back, no matter what it takes. You'll see." 

------------------------- 

Barret kicked at one of the numerous monster corpses littering the area and muttered, "Shit!" 

"That's hardly a constructive thing to do," growled Red. The beast was prowling around, carefully examining the slain monsters. 

"Okay, you want constructive? Then tell me this. You saw what that black gas stuff did to Tifa's legs. How come it didn't do nothing like that to Cloud?" 

Red looked at him. "This entire ambush had only one goal and one goal only... to capture Cloud AND in an undamaged condition. I suspect that creature's gas weapon was specifically engineered to react with the distinctive body chemistry of a SOLDIER in order to incapacitate him instantly. The fact that it eats away normal human flesh is probably just a happy bonus for Hojo. I shudder to think what would have happened to Tifa if Cloud hadn't thrown her clear." 

Barret rubbed a sore shoulder. "Damn. Here I was thinking that guy had gone totally loony and all the time, he was just trying to save Tifa's neck." 

"I'm afraid we all jumped to the same conclusion." Red shook his head sadly. "By the way, where's Cid?" 

"He's up on the Highwind checking it out." 

------------------------- 

At that moment, Cid was cursing up a storm when he surveyed the damage to his precious airship. He glared at the crewmen and yelled, "Get your butts in gear! I want that fucking engine up and running ASAP!" 

Elena, her clothes still scorched and reeking of smoke, walked up to the pilot and said, "What the hell happened down there!? I'm taking a coffee break and the next thing I know there are hundreds of these slimy creatures swarming all over the ship!" 

Cid whirled toward her and snarled, "How come Rude didn't see any of these things, huh? What the hell was he doing? Pissing in his boots!?" 

In a laconic drawl, Rude spoke up. "I was doing my job, along with that unlucky crewman of yours -- the one who ended up taking a swan dive overboard. Wherever they came from, it wasn't by air." The Turk looked like he was ready to collapse from exhaustion. 

"So where the hell DID those damn things come from, huh?" 

Rude shrugged, "Damned if I know. Maybe they teleported." 

"You really know how to make my day, don't you?" He glared at the Turks again. "Did you guys happen to see where that big winged son-of-a-bitch headed off to?" Seeing their blank looks, he yelled, "Don't tell me you missed the fucking thing!? It's only the size of a bleedin' cargo chopper!" 

Elena dusted some ash off her sleeve. "Sorry, Cid. Both of us were too busy trying to keep from being chewed up, spat on, and toasted. We didn't see any big winged creature like you're describing. But if you tell us what the hell's going on, maybe we can come up with some better answers!" 

Cid slammed his boot against the nearest bulkhead. Without looking at the Turks, he said, "Hojo's got Cloud." 

"What!?" 

"We were searching the area when Cloud suddenly came up with the idea that Roissy woman was bullshitting us. He said that Zack wouldn't have taken the cell sample. He was actually making a lot of sense when...." 

"When....?" 

Cid ran his hand through his hair. "When things got... really strange." He shook his head sharply, then said, "Anyway, he suddenly freaks out and runs off into the woods. We go after him. Tifa finds him, then these creatures pop out of nowhere! Cloud managed to get Tifa clear just before this weird snake-tree monster gasses him. While we're fighting off all these other monsters, this tentacled dragon-thingie swoops in, grabs him, and flies off. And I don't think you need three guesses to figure out who's fucking responsible for all this." 

Elena scowled. "Hojo again. But what does that nutcase want with Cloud?" 

"Hell if I know. But that maniac went through shitloads of trouble to make sure Cloud wasn't 'damaged'. Is this starting to sound familiar?" 

Rude muttered, "Just like Reno...." 

The trio exchanged uneasy glances. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6b: CONFIGURATIONS OF HELL  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The disorientation and dizziness was bad enough, but by the time the creatures landed and dragged him into a large cavernous building, Cloud was starting to feel a sickening ache deep in his bones. It wasn't too bad at the moment, but he had an unhappy feeling that it would get much, much worse before it got any better. 

His captors came to a sudden halt and jerked him off his feet, leaving him dangling in mid-air just like a slab of meat. His vision was still blurry, but he managed to make out the horribly transformed, yet unforgettable features of a certain mad scientist. 

"Hojo...." 

"Indeed. Well, Failure, it appears that Roissy's choice of hiding places worked out better than she'd ever know. If it wasn't for that fool Stephen, I wouldn't have had any idea of the sample's location. But I do know." He cackled softly. "And soon you'll surrender what you've so zealously guarded all this time." 

Hojo's last few words made Cloud's skin crawl. "Guarded... what the hell... are you... babbling about?" 

"Yes, you should be glad that you're going to have the opportunity to make up for your earlier transgressions." Hojo started pacing back and forth, waving his tentacles for emphasis. 

"Transgressions? What...?" 

"I'm referring to your foolish attempt to destroy Sephiroth, of course." 

"Attempt...! We DID destroy Sephiroth!" 

Hojo whirled around and shouted, "NO! All your pathetic heroics were just a minor setback. And now YOU will be instrumental in his return and his emergence into true glory!" 

"No way... in hell... am I helping... you... or Sephiroth!" Cloud weakly snarled. 

Hojo prodded his prisoner with a tentacle. "Oh, but you will. What makes you think you have a choice? Don't lie to yourself, puppet. You really do want to see Sephiroth again, don't you?" 

"Shut up... damn you!" But Hojo's words resonated somewhere deep inside Cloud, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. A shudder ran through his body. 

Hojo uttered a malicious chuckle. "Oh, come now. Let's be honest here, for the sake of science...." 

"Honest!? HONEST!? How can YOU... of all people... fucking well... talk about HONESTY!?" 

The scientist stretched out a tentacle and grabbed Cloud's chin. "I imagine that you'll experience a change in attitude once Sephiroth returns." 

Cloud fought the urge to cringe. "Why the hell... do you want to... resurrect Sephiroth? What can you possibly... expect to get out of all this? Do you think... he's going to be grateful... for bringing him back? He despises... your guts!" 

Hojo gleefully rubbed a few of his tentacles together and shrugged. "That's irrelevant. Besides, who expects gratitude from a god? I just want to see the ultimate manifestation of my grand experiment!" 

"I'd like to hear you... say that... when Sephiroth... rips you... to pieces." 

The scientist shrugged again, then muttered thoughtfully, "Hmmm. I suppose I really shouldn't keep calling you a Failure. You turned out to have some surprisingly useful abilities. Perhaps Sephiroth will find some use for you... after a little attitude readjustment, of course." 

Cloud's eyes widened in horror. (No no no... please, not again... I can't deal with this....) 

The young man abruptly shuddered, then he said in a much calmer voice, "So what are you calling this round of grandiose experiments? Let me guess... Project (B2)?" 

Since his bulging, multi-faceted eyes no longer had eyelids, Hojo was unable to blink. However, the scientist managed to convey his surprise perfectly well. 

"How...?" 

Cloud's lips curled up into a sarcastic grin. "Then again, you never were too imaginative with project names, Hojo." 

The scientist slithered closer and peered closely into Cloud's face. The fear and horror that had filled the young man's eyes just a few seconds ago were now gone. Instead of panic, there was a cool, intense stare of concentration -- the stare of a hunter watching for the slightest sign of weakness in its prey. Despite the fact that Cloud was suffering from a severe case of poisoning AND was tightly gripped by several hulking monsters, the scientist edged back a bit uneasily. He muttered, "The gas should keep you out of trouble while I make a few more preparations. Do try to restrain yourself." 

As the creatures dragged him away, Cloud gave Hojo a contemptuous glare. "Yes, 'doctor'. I'm all too familiar with the drill." 

Standing alone in the lab, Hojo rubbed his chin and pondered. The cool, mocking tone of voice... the watchful, predatory stare... the quiet, tightly controlled anger.... Hojo had seen them all before, but not in Cloud Strife. The facial expression and body language belonged to someone else altogether.... 

"That's... very interesting." Hojo suddenly twitched, then nodded absently. "Yes, yes. I know. First things first." 

But there was no one on the lab to hear him. 

------------------------- 

Reno was having a bad day... a REALLY bad day. Here he was, locked in a transparent cylindrical cell that was at most seven feet in diameter. He was buck naked, cold, and the grating that made up the cell's floor was literally a pain in the ass. 

(I'm developing a terrific case of waffle-butt.) 

Being hungry and thirsty would have completed his misery nicely, but that wasn't the case. He was being fed... unfortunately. The food meant that Hojo wanted him alive and healthy. The Turk briefly considered going on a hunger strike, but had an unhappy suspicion that Hojo would simply have him force-fed. 

He tensed as he heard the scuffling and scraping of approaching creatures. 

(Damn it! If that's Hojo again.... ) 

The crackpot definitely had plans for this red-haired Turk boy. Growing up in a family of dedicated scientists, Reno had no problems recognizing the fanatical gleam in Hojo's eyes -- the gleam that said 'potential experimental subject' in big letters. However, despite several close calls, something had always come up to distract Hojo's attention. 

(Luck don't fail me now....) 

It seemed that Reno was destined to escape unscathed again as Hojo's creatures dragged a familiar, blond-haired young man into the lab and tossed him into the cell next to Reno's. This was the first time the Turk had seen Cloud since their last fateful meeting in the tunnels under the Shinra Building, but he had no trouble recognizing his old enemy. The young man lay on the cold floor with his arms wrapped tightly around his middle and his legs pulled up, motionless except for the occasional shudder running through his body. Reno was all too familiar with the signs of intense pain. 

"You look like hell." 

The blond young man opened his softly glowing blue eyes and stared at Reno. An odd little smile appeared on his lips as he whispered, "I... know you." 

"I sure as hell hope you know me, considering all the times we nearly beat the crap out of each other!" Reno snapped. 

Cloud uttered a pain-choked chuckle. "Really? Can't be. The General frowns on that sort of thing. Conduct unbecoming a SOLDIER, he says...." His eyes glazed and he hissed sharply over as another spasm of pain tore through his body. 

In the same, eerily conversational tone, Cloud added, "I remember seeing you in the hallways... can't forget that red hair.... Tseng's new Turk...." 

"What the....?" Reno stared in confusion. (How can he possibly...? It's been over ten years since I joined the Turks!) 

"Uh... Cloud?" 

The young man shook his head slightly and muttered, "Cloud... I'm... Cloud...?" 

It sounded more like a question than a statement to Reno. (Man, the kid is definitely NOT playing with a full deck today....) 

"Yeah... unless you've suddenly decided to change your name or something," said Reno in a sarcastic voice. "What the hell happened to you?" 

"Hojo... used some chemical weapon... on me." Cloud hissed softly. "Shit, it hurts!" He felt the ache in his body slowly intensifying to a deep-seated burning. It was like being flayed alive, inch by excruciating inch. Every little movement -- even breathing -- only seemed to make the pain grow, almost like a living thing bent on devouring him whole. 

"Damn...." 

Reno watched with growing concern as Cloud gasped and curled up a bit tighter. When the latest spasm of agony eased, he managed to lift his head slightly and whispered, "Reno?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Elena and Rude... they're alive and okay. We found them... at Nibelheim." 

Reno leaned against the cell wall and let out a slow, audible sigh of relief. He muttered, "Thanks," then grinned sourly. "I bet Elena was whining about getting stuck in that fucking pit." 

Cloud smiled faintly and murmured, "Something like that...." He suddenly shuddered and closed his eyes. He slowly opened them a moment later and whispered, "Reno, this... this could get really ugly...." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I think... I think I'm starting to... see things." 

"Oh shit. Uh... like what?" 

"You really... do NOT... want to know...." Cloud said with a weak chuckle. He abruptly gasped, then clutched at his head and whimpered, "Stop it... leave me alone... why are you doing this to me... what do you want from me... no more...." Involuntary tears of agony began to seep from Cloud's eyes. 

"Get a grip on yourself, man!" But it was obvious to Reno that Cloud was beyond hearing. The young man went appallingly limp and still, his chest barely moving. 

"Oh great." It was obvious that Cloud was going to be absolutely no help. Whatever drug Hojo had used on Cloud, it must have been a doozy. From their previous encounters, Reno knew that Cloud was the most dangerous sort of opponent -- cool-headed, focused, and ready to take exploit the slightest weakness or advantage. To see the guy so confused and disoriented was pretty damn disturbing, to say the least. 

(And what the hell was he babbling about before? How could he have seen me over ten years ago? And what's this about 'The General'?) The emphasis on the name was unmistakable. (There's only one guy that I remember people talking about that way. He couldn't possibly be referring to Sephiroth, could he?) 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6c: LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Cid found Yuffie sitting at her usual spot down in the Highwind's hold. However, instead of clutching at her stomach and looking green, the girl was twirling something around her finger... something covered with Materia. The pilot abruptly realized what it was. 

(It's Cloud's Mystile.) Aloud, Cid said quietly, "So... what are you going to do with that?" 

Yuffie flipped the Mystile up into the air, caught it, and said, "I'm going to return it to its rightful owner." There was a look of fierce determination on her young face. And in that moment, Cid saw beyond the familiar image of a scruffy, still awkward teenager girl and saw the foreshadowing of what promised to be a young woman of uncommon beauty and resolve in a few years. 

If asked, Lord Godo could have easily told Cid just where Yuffie had gotten her looks, warrior's spirit, and strength of will. She had inherited it from her mother Kinutora... the woman whose name translated in the ancient Wutai language to mean 'the silken she-tiger'... and the woman whose sudden death had all but destroyed Lord Godo's will to fight even before his defeat at the hands of Sephiroth and Shinra. 

Even after all these years, the dead woman's presence -- and her absence -- could be felt. For the husband and daughter, it was easier to act as if Kinutora had never existed than to dwell upon her loss and the mystery of her death... a death that had signaled the final defeat of Wutai. 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6d: RHAPSODY IN GREEN:  


A LITTLE PEACE OF HEAVEN, A LITTLE SLICE OF HELL  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Through the burning maelstrom of agony, fear, and horror that threatened to consume Cloud, a small bit of tranquillity emerged... a happy memory of years gone by.... 

--------------- 

Strolling down the street of Sector 5, he heard the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle taking place in the dirty alleyway nearby. He might have ignored it and continued on his way, but a dirty young man went flying out the mouth of the alley, nearly colliding with him. Staggering back to his feet, the young man glared at him and took a drunken swing at him out of pure frustration. 

He wasn't carrying his sword, but he didn't need weapons to be dangerous. A single precise punch and the scruffy young man collapsed into a limp heap which bore an uncanny resemblance to the other piles of trash littering the slum street. 

Curiosity aroused, he strolled into the alley to investigate. He found four young men -- all filthy, scrawny and stinking drunk -- harassing a young woman... a girl, really. She was petite and pretty, with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and bright green eyes. Her long pink dress, topped with a red vest, didn't keep her from using a staff to beat off her attackers. 

(Not bad,) he noted absently as two of the attackers went down. (But she's too easy on them. She doesn't follow up like she should.) 

That was made painfully clear when one of the men she'd flattened earlier jumped back to his feet and sent her staff flying out of her hands with an angry swipe. 

He snatched the staff out of midair. It wasn't his favorite weapon, but he knew how to use it and use it well. A quick series of jabs and sweeps floored the attacking gang. However, this time, they were definitely going to stay down for a while. He gave the girl a pleasant grin and tossed the staff back to her. 

"Your form's pretty good, but you need to hit them harder." 

She blinked and said quietly, "I didn't want to hurt them." 

"That's sweet of you, but unfortunately, not very practical." He watched her brush off her clothes, then pick up a basket. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what the frilly yellow things were. 

"Hey, those are flowers! You hardly see them around here." 

She smiled a bit sadly and said, "Yes, I know. That's how I make my living... I sell them. Would you like one? On the house?" The girl's expression abruptly brightened. 

He chuckled when he saw the playful twinkle in her eyes. "Sure. I love freebies." 

She handed him a delicate, yellow-orange blossom. 

"Thanks again for helping me. My name's Aeris." 

He took the flower and stared down at her, admiring her gorgeous green eyes. There was such serenity and gentleness in her gaze... but also traces of unmistakable loneliness and sadness. 

(Why do I wish I could make your loneliness and sadness go away...? Will you let me do that, Aeris?) 

"The name's Zack." 

--------------- 

Reno watched with a mixture of relief and disgust as the look of suffering on Cloud's face eased a bit. Still unconscious, the blond young man smiled slightly. 

--------------- 

He walked into the room humming softly to himself. It was getting to be a habit, he realized. His best friend appeared in the doorway and said, "So who's the lucky woman?" 

"Huh?" He grinned impishly. "What makes you think that?" 

"When you walk around with a bemused grin on your face and twirling a flower in your fingers, I'd say that it's more than likely that there's a woman involved." 

"You're as perceptive as ever. Yeah." 

"So what's her name?" 

He flushed with embarrassment. "Actually, she made a promise not to tell anyone her name." 

His friend raised an elegant pale eyebrow. "Why?" 

"I don't know. She's really skittish, especially about people from Shinra. She never told me anything straight out, but I think that her family's had some past trouble with some Shinra exec. I guess she doesn't want the guy to find her." 

Sephiroth shook his head. "She sounds rather... helpless. Not your usual type." There was a faint expression of contempt on his face. Then again, the Shinra general had precious little tolerance for what he considered as weakness. 

"Helpless? No, not really. I think... 'demure' is a better word for her. She's got backbone, but she also grew up in the slums. People who live down there tend to think that anyone associated with Shinra as all-powerful. Maybe, when she trusts me more...." 

"You're a sentimentalist and a hopeless romantic." For a man was infamous throughout Shinra for his sharp tongue and ruthlessness, Sephiroth's tone was amazingly mild... one might almost consider it faintly wistful. 

He gave his friend an impish grin. "Hey, it's part of my charm. The women love it." 

Sephiroth shook his head ruefully. "Well, if you can't tell me her name, what CAN you tell me about her?" 

"She's a bit on the short side, long brown hair, very pretty. But it's her eyes that really got my attention." He chuckled. "I don't know. I guess I just have a weakness for green eyes." 

Sephiroth blinked his own glowing pale green eyes, then snorted and shook his head. 

"And she's got a real touch with plants." 

"Really?" Sephiroth gave him a skeptical look. 

"Yeah. See." He held up the flower in his hand. 

The general stepped away from the doorway and took the flower. After sniffing the bloom and admiring the silky yellow petals, he said "You're right. I can't imagine trying to raise something this beautiful in the slums." There was a thoughtful pause. "You really like her." 

"Well...." 

"Come on. I know you, Zack. This one's different. It's not just some passing fancy, is it?" 

He sighed. "No... no, it isn't. I don't know how quite to describe it. She's really a wonderful person... nice without being preachy or boring about it. But at the same time, she's such a mystery." 

(In a weird way, she reminds me of you, Seph. You two appear very different. She's like a quiet lake, serene and peaceful... you're like a wall of ice, cold and hard. But underneath those very different surfaces, I can sense the same kind of loneliness and isolation... maybe even sorrow... in both of you.) 

He abruptly shook his head. "You know, I've been seeing her on and off for over a year, but I still don't know that much about her. I really wish she'd tell me what scares her so much," he muttered. 

"Well, I suppose that you'll just have to wait until she gathers the courage to...." Sephiroth's face suddenly went expressionless and remote. 

(Oh well, back to business, I guess.) He discretely stuffed the flower out of sight behind some books even as he put on his best professional face and moved to his habitual position behind his superior officer. 

Sephiroth said in a sharp, icy voice, "What do you want, Hojo?" 

The doctor give the general his typical slimy grin. "Oh, I'm here to request a contingent of SOLDIERS for a mission. I want them to go out to the Mythril mines to the east and capture some important specimens for me." 

With a faint sneer, Sephiroth snapped, "Surely you have personnel trained for that sort of thing." 

"Yes, I do. Well, perhaps I should say, 'Yes, I did.' Unfortunately, the last three parties I've sent out never returned." Hojo shrugged carelessly. 

"My men are fighters, not scientists or dog catchers." 

"Are you saying they can't do the job?" Hojo asked slyly. 

Sephiroth said in an even voice, "Hardly. Capturing creatures for your pet research projects is NOT their job." 

The general stared at Hojo from under hooded eyes. "But, in the interests of interdepartmental cooperation and since I am under orders from President Shinra to indulge your... reasonable... requests, I'll send a squad of my men strictly as an escort. Their sole priority is to protect their own lives and the lives of your personnel. The task of actually capturing any creatures is entirely YOUR responsibility. My men will not refrain in the slightest degree if the creatures try to attack them. Is that understood?" 

Hojo sniffed, then shrugged. "Very well. My assistant will forward the pertinent details." 

Sephiroth made a dismissive gesture. "Zack, make the assignments." With those words, the general disappeared into his office. 

He nodded obediently, then turned back to Hojo only to find the scientist staring at him a bit too intensely for comfort. 

--------------- 

"What a slimy bastard...." 

Half asleep, Reno lifted his head and muttered, "You say something, Cloud?" but got no reply. 

--------------- 

He walked in one morning to see Sephiroth frowning at his computer screen. 

"What's wrong?" 

"I was just checking out the records on one of the troopers assigned to our mission to Nibelheim." 

"Who? 

"Someone called Cloud Strife." 

"So what's wrong with him?" 

"You better ask me what's not wrong with him." 

"Come on, it can't be THAT bad." 

"How much are you willing to bet, Zack?" 

He glanced at the picture on the screen. "Strife... now I remember him. Short, blond haired kid. He took it really hard when he got booted from the SOLDIER program." 

"Life's full of disappointments. If he can't deal with them, he certainly has no business even trying to be a SOLDIER," snapped Sephiroth. 

He remembered running into the kid at a bar. Cloud had been stinking drunk and on the verge of single-handedly attacking a group of SOLDIERs. Knowing his buddies like he did, he'd dragged the kid out of the bar before the youngster ended up as a bloody smear on the floor. As he hauled the trooper out to a taxi, he listened as Cloud rambled about how everyone was out to get him. Shaking his head, he had stuffed the kid into the taxi and sent him back to barracks. 

Sephiroth looked faintly disgusted. "How on earth did this joker get accepted into the Shinra military in the first place? Just take a look at these psychological assessments... 'insecure, hostile, resentful of authority, questionable mental stability, and a distinct tendency to paranoia....'" 

His lips twitched slightly. "I thought we were supposed to be paranoid." 

Sephiroth glared at him. "Not that type of paranoid." 

He peered over his friend's shoulder. "But it also says that he's got quite a bit of raw talent and potential. If he'd only lose some of that attitude of his...." 

"We're a military organization, not some personal development seminar," Sephiroth snapped, his green eyes flashing with annoyance. 

"I know, I know," he murmured mildly. 

Sephiroth glared at the computer monitor. "The last thing I want is to have such a troublemaker hanging around." 

"Well, he did grow up in Nibelheim. He probably knows the area pretty well. He could be useful." 

"That's true. It'll be good to have a backup, just in case we have problems with the guide." 

--------------- 

On the floor of his cell, Cloud stirred restlessly. Something bad was coming.... 

--------------- 

"WAKE UP." 

The struggle for air and the mocking, horribly familiar voice dragged him irresistibly out of his peaceful sleep. He blearily opened his eyes, then froze in shock and terror at the black-caped man effortlessly holding him by the throat above the cell floor. 

(Sephiroth! How can he be here in the Shinra Building!? He's dead! He's DEAD!!!) 

He wanted to scream in rage and hatred, but he couldn't utter a sound. Over Sephiroth's shoulder, he could see Tifa curled up on the bunk, fast asleep and totally oblivious to the malevolent presence in the small detention cell. 

(Tifa! Wake up! Don't just lie there! Help me!) 

A sinister little smile appeared on Sephiroth's lips and he lightly brushed his fingers along his victim's cheek. In a malevolent purr, Sephiroth said, "What do we have here? A little SOLDIER boy? Or a fool playing dress-up? You don't remember a thing, do you? How remarkably convenient. After all, who would want to be a failure like you, hm?" 

The utter scorn and contempt in Sephiroth's gaze made him cringe, but he didn't understand why. 

(What are you talking about? Dress-up? Failure?) 

Failure. That word... hurt... so badly. 

"Nibelheim burned and you did nothing. Pretty little Tifa lay bleeding all over the reactor floor and you did absolutely nothing. While you blubbered like an idiot... while you were moaning and wailing about your lost family and hometown... someone else was trying to DO something about it. Someone else was checking for survivors. Someone else was saving little Tifa's life. Someone else was trying to stop me... and amazingly enough, he managed to succeed... or partially, at least." 

(No! You're lying! There WAS no one else! I did those things! IT WAS ME!) But despite his angry mental protests, a terrible sense of fear and dread began to grow. 

Sephiroth cocked his head slightly, then lightly tapped his victim's forehead. "Isn't it amazing what a little self-delusion will do? All the shame... all the helplessness... gone." 

He shuddered and shook his head frantically. He wanted to scream his denials and drown out Sephiroth's lies.... but he was mute... a silent, captive audience to the monster's venomous words. 

(TIFA! HELP ME!) 

But she didn't do anything. She went on sleeping like she didn't have a care in the world. 

(....maybe she doesn't care... about me, anyway.) 

Sephiroth murmured, "My, don't we even look the part? Instead of being just a nobody, you're now a dashing ex-SOLDIER, complete with a suitably formidable weapon and... wardrobe." 

(No! I'm somebody! I am... was a SOLDIER!) 

The ex-Shinra general leaned closer and whispered viciously, "You can dress like a SOLDIER." Sephiroth tapped the familiar insignia on Cloud's belt. "You might even be able to trick yourself into fighting like a SOLDIER. But you'll never be anything more than a pathetic copy of a real SOLDIER... and an even poorer copy of him...." 

(I don't want to listen to this!) 

But he had no choice. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't even look away. All he could do was hang there like a brainless piece of meat as Sephiroth poured his verbal poison into his ears. The words were like acid, eating away at his mind... his soul... leaving nothing but a huge, gaping void.... 

Almost as if he knew exactly what was going through his victim's head, Sephiroth purred, "And when I'm through with you, you'll know exactly what you are. A fake. A hollow shell. A puppet of flesh with no name and no mind of its own." 

He closed his eyes. It was all he could do. But that didn't help. The words kept coming and the void kept getting bigger... deeper.... 

Sephiroth chuckled quietly. "The truth hurts, doesn't it? But enough for now. We'll have plenty of time to talk about this later on. LOOK AT ME." 

He involuntarily opened his eyes and met Sephiroth's icy green gaze. Those terrible eyes filled his entire field of vision, blotting out everything else. The cold green fire seemed to sear into him, leaving nothing untouched and untainted. Like the tendrils of some cruel parasitic vine, the greenness wove its way into every corner of his mind... into his very flesh and bones.... 

....the flesh and bones of a puppet. 

When Sephiroth released the grip on his throat, he stood attentively, awaiting Sephiroth's every word. 

"Cloud, you wanted so badly to become a SOLDIER." 

(Yes... I want to be a SOLDIER.) 

"So be it. Here are your superior officer's orders." 

(Yes sir....) 

A part of him was ready and eager to obey... just like a trained dog awaiting his master's slightest command. 

Another part of him was screaming. 

--------------- 

Reno glanced at the neighboring cell as Cloud abruptly twitched, then started to utter little noises of distress. 

(So much for the good dreams, heh? Well, misery loves company and all that crap. If I'm not getting any sleep, I don't see why you should.) 

But it soon became evident to the Turk that Cloud was not experiencing any ordinary bad dream. Soon the young man was thrashing from side to side, babbling incoherent denials or begging for something terrible to stop. 

Reno moved closer to Cloud's cell to get a better look, then nearly got the fright of his life when Cloud exploded off the floor and lunged toward at him, screaming in a berserk rage. The Turk recoiled, retreating as far away as his cell would allow as Cloud pounded and clawed mindlessly at the walls of his own cell. 

"Shit!" swore the Turk as a small crack suddenly appeared in the wall of Cloud's cell. At the moment, Reno was very glad that there was not just one, but TWO very solid barriers between him and this frothing maniac. 

"STOP IT! STOP IT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!! How can you just lie there and let him do this to me!? You're on HIS side, aren't you, you damn slut!? TIFA, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!" 

In his line of work, Reno had run into plenty of angry people. He'd been yelled at, cursed, and threatened more times than he could count. It was no big deal... just a side effect of the job. But what he was seeing now was totally different. Reno had seen something like it only once before... and that time had been more than enough. It had scared him back then and it scared him now. Cloud wasn't just angry. As the young man ranted and raved, his voice contained a searing rage and a corrosive, soul-deep hatred that made Reno's skin crawl. 

(Oh man, oh man. This is BAD.) He was under the impression that Cloud and Tifa Lockheart were, if not a couple, a semi-item. But after THIS little display.... He wondered if Tifa had any idea what was really going on this guy's head. 

Even as he watched, Cloud suddenly stiffened, his glowing blue eyes wide open... and totally empty. 

Reno cautiously edged closer to the immobile young man, then waved his hand in front of Cloud's face. The Turk shivered at the utter lack of reaction. He'd encountered vacant stares before, but this one had to take the cake. 

(It's like... there's nothing there. No thoughts, no emotions.... Zip. Zilch. Nobody's home.) 

Cloud remained frozen for a few minutes, then without warning, he sagged to the cell floor.... 

....like a puppet with its strings cut. 

--------------- 

Green eyes and smiles. That's what he would always remember about this moment... about this place of light and crystal. 

He would never forget Aeris' beautiful eyes and her warm smile as she knelt there in the very center of this City of the Ancients. She was so glad to see him. He wanted to touch her... hold her... he wanted to make the strain and worry on her face disappear. 

He never got the chance. 

Then there were the other green eyes... the other smile.... 

....the eyes that were like shards of green ice slashing into his soul... the cruel, amused smile that promised unspeakable horrors to come.... 

And better than anyone else, he knew that Sephiroth certainly could -- and would -- deliver on that promise. 

--------------- 

Reno stared at the unconscious Cloud and the tears that slowly seeped from the young man's closed eyes. 

The Turk looked away. At the moment, he felt like he had been thrown in a barrel and tossed over a waterfall. Reno couldn't believe it but he was actually emotionally exhausted from just watching Cloud's raving fits. After spending over a decade doing Shinra's dirty work, there was damn few things that could really bother him, but he couldn't help feeling more than a little sorry for the young man in the neighboring cell. 

(Cloud, you poor bastard... you've got some serious shit going on in your head.) 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6e: REEVE'S INTERLUDE - BITING THE HAND  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Fed up with the lack of results and desperate to do SOMETHING, Reeve took over the job of sifting endless piles of data for any leads to Scarlet's secret weapons plant as he waited for Cid and the others to return to Midgar. An hour or so later, Max tapped Reeve on the shoulder. 

"What?" he asked his assistant irritably. 

"Uh, I found one of the guys on that list of names you gave me." 

For a second, Reeve couldn't figure out what Max was talking about, then he remembered. "Oh, that's right!" Around dinnertime, he'd given his assistant a list of the troopers mentioned in the very last report on Zack and Cloud... the ones involved in Zack's death. 

"You found only one? Where is the rest of the men on that list?" 

"They're all dead, sir." 

"How did that happen?" 

"Well, it appears that immediately after Zack incident, the entire squad was transferred back to Midgar and ended up stationed on the 67th through 69th floors of this building. Sephiroth wiped them out on his way to assassinate President Shinra." 

Reeve frowned. (Well, that's an eerie sort of poetic justice, isn't it? They killed Zack and Sephiroth killed them....) 

------------------------- 

The Shinra trooper shuffled his feet and sweated nervously as he stood in front of the new president's desk. Reeve was in a really nasty mood and it showed. 

"I have some questions to ask you. Do a good job of answering them and you'll be out of here in no time. Try to screw around me and I know a certain General Claxmore who won't be so nice about asking the same questions." 

"Y-y-yes sir...." 

Reeve was not impressed with the trooper standing before him. The man looked like a coward and a bully. 

"About a year ago, you and your troop was sent on a mission to track down some fugitives. Am I correct?" 

"Yeah." Then in a self-pitying whine, the trooper said, "We were supposed to hunt down some lab escapees. They didn't tell us that one of the guys we were looking for was a SOLDIER!" 

(And it would have been perfectly all right with you to hunt down some poor ordinary person?) thought Reeve. 

"We got some reports that the guys we were looking for were in the mountains just south of Midgar, so off we go. Jeez, me and my squad are searching the area, minding our own business, then this... this dark guy drops from the trees like the wrath of god, waving this absolutely HUGE sword! The next thing I know, he takes out half my buddies and the squad commander in a couple of swipes. Boom! Like that!" 

(A dark guy. That had to be Zack....) 

"So how did you manage to survive the attack?" asked Reeve. 

"Uh... me and one of my friends decided that a strategic retreat...." 

"You mean you ran for your lives." 

"Um... yeah." 

"In that case, why on earth did the two of you keep chasing these escapees, considering what just happened to the rest of your squad?" 

A bead of sweat ran down the man's face. Reeve glared at him. 

"Actually,.. we weren't chasing them. We... sort of ran across them by accident. Near the edge of a cliff. It was weird. I mean, I know that dark guy didn't get a damn scratch when he chopped the squad to pieces, but when we ran into him again a few minutes later, he was hurt really bad. There was all this blood pouring -- and I mean POURING -- down his back. He and this blond guy were so busy fighting over a knife that they didn't even notice us. The dark guy finally managed to clobber the blond guy, then he saw us...." 

"So you panicked and shot him." 

"Yeah...." 

Reeve stared at them. In a neutral voice, he said, "So why didn't you shoot the other man as well?" 

"Oh, you mean the blond guy?" 

(That has to be Cloud....) 

"Yes," said Reeve. 

"Well, we would have... but he stumbled off into the brush. And... well, we sort of used up all our ammo on the other guy." Seeing Reeve's disgusted look, the trooper hastily said, "Listen. If this blond guy was strong enough to give the dark guy trouble, would YOU want to go wandering around in the woods looking for a crazed lunatic with nothing more than a pocket knife?" 

(I guess he has a point there.) Reeve stared at the trooper for a moment, then said, "Then what happened?" 

"Well, none of us wanted to stick around. So we left the dark guy lying there and took off." 

"Didn't you bother to check to see if he was still alive?" 

"C'mon! No way he could've survived, shot full of holes like he was. And if he wasn't dead, he would have died soon enough." The trooper shrugged. "When we got back to camp, we fudged a few things on the report. And that was that." 

"I see." 

The trooper shifted uneasily. "Is... is there anything else, sir?" 

"Just one more thing." 

"Yeah?" 

"When the... dark guy and the blond were fighting over the knife, who was the aggressor?" 

"The aggressor?" The trooper puzzled over the question a bit, then said, "Oh, you mean, who was doing most of the attacking?" 

"Yes." 

"Funny. Now that you mention it... it was the blond guy." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Oh, yeah. I mean, you could just tell from their faces. The blond guy was really freaked out, while the dark guy was a lot more cool-headed. He seemed more interested on getting the knife away from the blond guy than in hurting him." 

"I see. That will be all. Wait out in the reception area. I may need to speak to you again." 

"Yes sir." 

As the relieved trooper fled his office, Reeve leaned back into his chair and pondered the new information he'd just received. 

(Yes. It all begins to fit. I'd been wondering how a group of regular Shinra troopers managed to take down such a talented SOLDIER like Zack. But this version makes a lot more sense. Zack nearly wipes out the squad that's following him and Cloud. For whatever reasons -- delirium, whatever -- Cloud attacks Zack and severely wounds him. Zack manages to knock Cloud out, but by then it's too late. The troopers shoot Zack while Cloud wanders off into the bush. After the troopers run off, Cloud returns to find Zack... and then....) 

And then, something else had happened... something truly horrific. Reeve didn't have to be an expert to read the story told by the shattered and smashed bones on the cliff -- someone with immense physical strength and a sharp weapon had deliberately hacked Zack's body apart... and he had a sickening suspicion that Zack had probably still been alive at the time. 

The question of 'who' was ridiculously easy to answer. 

(Cloud, of course. On the cliff edge. With Zack's own two-handed broadsword.) 

Not the Cloud Strife he knew. It was inconceivable that his friend could possible do such a savage and crazed deed. 

(Not our Cloud, no. But this other Cloud Strife... the young man who arrived in Midgar eight years ago... the bitter, hostile young man who failed to became a SOLDIER... oh, with his history, I could easily picture THAT person attacking anyone -- even an apparent friend -- in a blind fit of rage. Add the trauma of being Hojo's prisoner and experimental subject for nearly five years... oh my god....) 

It all fit. Cloud's inability to remember exactly what happened to Zack... the fit of panic and horror at the cliff... everything. 

Reeve contemplated his opinions... debated temporary and final solutions. Finally, he called his assistant Max. 

"Where's the most isolated outpost we have?" 

"Uh... I believe there's a facility located on a desert island to the south, sir. Nothing but sand and walking cactus plants." 

"Fine. Transfer that trooper waiting in the reception area to that location." 

"Sir!?" 

"Right now. I want him out of Midgar as soon as possible. I don't care how you do it, but do it right away and make him like it." With a bitter smile, he added, "Tell him it's for his own safety and that it's in his best interests to keep his mouth shut." 

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir," said Max in a dubious voice. 

(Which is perfectly true, in a way.) Reeve sank back into his chair. (This buys me some time to figure out what to do. And if worst comes to worst... well, I suppose I could always ask one of the Turks to kill the man.) 

Reeve sat alone, in total silence, until a sharp buzz broke his concentration. His assistant Max said, "Sir, the Highwind II has just landed. Your friends are headed up to your office." 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6f: ONE THING AT A TIME  
------------------------------------------------------ 

When Cid and the others walked into the office, they were confronted by a seriously preoccupied Reeve. The pilot threw himself into a chair and muttered, "Any luck on finding Scarlet's little hiding hole?" 

Reeve stared out the window and said quietly, "Not yet. Scarlet covered her tracks damn well. She didn't leave any obvious traces. So we're left with the money." 

"The what!?" Barret yelled. 

Elena nodded sharply. "When all else fails, you trace the money. Salaries, equipment costs, food, transportation. All these things cost money. It has to come from somewhere and it has to go somewhere." 

Cid smirked. "I get it. Hit 'em with the accountants, huh?" 

"That's the basic idea. I've narrowed it down to three or four few likely prospects, but that's about it. Unfortunately, it takes more time...." 

Tifa jumped up and shouted, "But we don't HAVE time!" There was a trace of barely controlled hysteria in her voice. 

Before anyone else could comment, Reeve held up his hand and said wearily, "I know that. It's all taking too much time. Believe me, I'm open to any suggestions, hints, guesses you guys might have for me. Just remember, we're probably only going to get one chance at this." 

"So what have you got?" 

"There are four likely locations. The first is located in the mountains just north of Junon. The second is on an island near what used to be the Temple of the Ancients. The third is situated near the Mythril Mines to the east. The last one is on the seaside cliffs just north of Rocket Town." 

"Can't you do some aerial reconnaissance?" said Barret. 

Cid muttered, "No way. Don't forget that Hojo's got hordes of those weird flying monsters. He'd see us long before we see him." 

"Shit." 

Reeve said, "I'm hoping to narrow it down to two locations. After that... it's a coin toss." He glanced around at his friends. "Listen. Why don't you guys change, heal up, and get some rest? Standing around won't make the computers work any faster." 

"But...." Tifa protested. 

Barret gripped her shoulder. "Come on, girl. You know he's right. You're not going to do Cloud any good if you pass out on your feet. And you should see a doc about your legs. Just to be sure." 

"Oh hell," she muttered. "All right." 

Barret and Yuffie escorted Tifa out of the room, trailed by Vincent and the Turks. Cid was about to follow them when Red gave him a nudge, then jerked his head in Reeve's direction. 

Cid nodded and walked back to Reeve's desk. "Okay, what's up?" 

Reeve started in surprise. "Huh?" 

Red said firmly, "Something's really bothering you." 

The Shinra exec rubbed his hands over his face. "That obvious, huh?" 

Cid glanced down at Reeve's desk and saw a picture of a familiar blond-haired young man on the outside of a fat folder. Curious, he reached out to take a look inside, but Reeve quietly put his hand on the folder cover, holding it closed. He quietly said to the pilot, "Please don't. Or at least, not now." 

Cid blinked twice, then said, "That's Cloud's personnel file, right?" 

"Yes." Reeve hesitated, then said, "Cid... Red... if you insist on reading it, I won't try to stop you. But I think we should concentrate on finding and rescuing Cloud first. We can deal with what's in here later." 

Red and Cid stared into their friend's eyes. Reeve didn't look guilty. Instead, he looked anxious and just a bit sad. Red said evenly, "ARE there things in that file that need to be 'dealt' with?" 

"Yes, I think so." Reeve's answer was quiet and thoughtful. He sighed heavily and added, "Do you guys remember the talk you had in the basement of the Mansion about possible consequences of probing Cloud's memories? Red, you said that it was hard to figure out the best thing to do... allowing Cloud to face the intolerable truth or to let him keep a comforting lie." 

Cid muttered, "Yeah. And YOU said, 'You can say that again.' Aw hell, Reeve. You're not telling me...." (Doesn't it ever stop for this poor kid?) The pilot rubbed his neck and said, "Just how bad is it, Reeve?" 

"It's pretty damn bad... and ugly. And even worse, it leaves a lot more questions than answers. You can't imagine how many times I've been tempted to just shred this entire file and forget about it, but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it. There's been too many lies and omissions already...." 

"Shit." The pilot wondered what could be bothering Reeve so much. Cid's gaze returned to the folder, then abruptly focused on the photo of young Cloud on the folder cover. 

(It's Cloud, no doubt about that. You can't mistake that hair.) But then Cid noticed the expression in the young man's eyes and face. A quick glance at Red told him that the beast was probably seeing the same thing he did. 

Red whispered in quiet dismay, "Such bitterness and anger." 

Reeve's only response was a weary sigh. 

Cid flicked the photo. "Has this been the thing bugging you the last couple of days?" 

"It's just the tip of the iceberg, Cid." 

They all stared the apparently innocuous personnel folder, then glanced at each other. Finally Red spoke for them all. 

"Reeve, you probably should put that folder away and keep it out of sight for now. We don't want Tifa or the others accidentally seeing it and asking questions. As you said, we'll probably have to deal with it at some point, but this is not the time. We have more important things to worry about at the moment. Whoever he might have been... whatever he might have done in the past... Cloud is our friend NOW and he's in terrible danger." 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6g: NO TRUER WORDS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Cloud awoke in bone-searing agony, but that was an all too familiar experience. He resisted opening his eyes, dreading the sight of what he was going to see... the sickening green Mako glow... the scientists in white.... 

(This past year... my friends... has it all been a dream...? If it is, I don't want to wake up.... Please, I can't stand this any more....) 

// You can't spend the rest of your life.... //  


// hiding in an imaginary world.... // 

Somewhere, he gathered up the willpower to slowly open his eyes. The first thing he was the curving clear wall of his cell. 

(No... not again....) Then he glanced up to see a naked, red-haired man watching him from a neighboring cell. In an barely audible voice, Cloud whispered, "I never thought that I'd be so glad to see you, Reno." 

The Turk had a rather peculiar combination of discomfort, nervousness, and sympathy on his face. "Uh... whatever." 

"What's wrong? Oh hell, I've been babbling, haven't I?" Cloud muttered in disgust. He shifted restlessly, seeking some relief, but his movements only made the pain worse. 

Reno said in a somber voice, "You know, I would NOT like to be you for all the gil in the world, Cloud." 

The young man's lips curled upward, but it really couldn't be considered a smile. 

"Sometimes *I* don't like being me, either." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6h: SCARLET HITS THE ROAD  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Reno was not the only ex-Shinra member to be have a really bad time in recent days. Actually, Scarlet's luck started turning bad a year ago -- just about the time that damned Cloud guy made his presence known in Midgar -- and it had been going downhill ever since. Getting pounded on by that slut Lockheart... nearly getting blown up in Proud Clod due to Heidegger's incompetence... having a huge meteor crashing down from the sky... all that was bad enough. But to lose control of Shinra to REEVE, of all people! Well, that was adding insult to injury. 

But she always had contingency plans. This weapon research facility had been one of her best-kept secrets. There was no trace of it in Shinra records and it was financed by the most convoluted and creative accounting she could manage. Contemplating her options after Meteor and losing her bid to control Shinra, she'd decided that the obvious thing to do would be to enter the weapon business herself. There was always a market for effective ways of killing other people. 

She had spent the following months getting her secret weapon facility retooled to become a small, but efficient production plant. In a few days, it would have been online and running. But just as things looked like there were about to turn around for her, Hojo had to show up and screw up everything. 

Scarlet angrily paced back in forth in the small detention cell which was part of the facility's security area. After Hojo's little invasion, she had been thrown into the cell and apparently forgotten. For over 24 hours, she'd had nothing to eat and if it hadn't been for the small sink, she wouldn't have had anything to drink either. 

She knew why she was still alive. Hojo wanted her around to defuse any self-destruct devices she might have built into the facility. He knew how paranoid she could be about her projects. Hojo had no real intention of letting her starve to death. The lack of food was just to make her cooperative. 

Scarlet snickered softly to herself. Hojo was an idiot. Oh, the crazed scientist had found a secure place to put her, a place with no computers or tools. But the chauvinist pig had made a very bad mistake. He assumed that she was just a weapon designer and computer programmer. Wrong. Her interest was not purely intellectual. Not only did she know how to construct all sorts of weapons, she knew how to use them AND she didn't mind getting her hands dirty. 

The fool had totally forgotten to have her searched. 

No, the situation wasn't totally hopeless, but it couldn't be considered good by any stretch of the imagination. She was still stuck in a 10' by 10' cell and no place to go. The locked door wasn't the problem -- she knew the codes and could get it open easily enough -- it was the pack of hulking, drooling monsters prowling around outside the cell that was the problem. Their grunting and stomping was driving her crazy. As she paced, she wondered how the hell she was going to get out of THIS mess with her precious hide intact. 

Suddenly, she heard the sound of approaching feet which stopped right outside her door. This could be her one and only chance. She took a deep breath and got focused as the door to her cell slid open. 

The monsters dragged her out of her cell, down the hallways, and carted her up several flights of stairs. She noted that the elevators did not appear to be working and stored that information away for future reference. Scarlet and her escort eventually ended up in her own office facing a softly giggling Hojo. 

She thought irritably, (The asshole's managed to change himself into some creepy tentacled green, bug-eyed monster and he STILL has the same stringy, dirty black hair!) 

Sniggering madly , he said, "I hope you haven't found your accommodations too uncomfortable." 

"What the hell do you want, Hojo?" 

"I want the codes for the safety interlocks on your little Mako reactor." 

"What for!?" 

"I need more power, of course." 

Scarlet scowled angrily. "Then you're going to have to find another source of power, Hojo! If you shut off the interlocks, the inflow of Mako will be uncontrollable and the reactor will blow up in your stupid face. Not that it bothers me, but since I happen to be sitting on top of the damn thing...." 

"That would be true... IF the Mako had no place to go. But we won't be having that problem." 

"Why not!?" 

"You don't need to know, Scarlet. Just be cooperative and give me the codes. My time is at a premium right now. I don't want to waste time torturing you." 

As Scarlet sighed, she counted the number of monsters in the room. (Just a handful....) She gave Hojo a quick glance. (I hope that I'm correct in assuming that Hojo's in direct mental control of these creatures. Otherwise, I'm dead meat.) 

Scarlet shrugged off the paws holding her back and stepped closer to Hojo. She began to haul up her sparkly, heavily sequined evening gown with one hand, exposing her long, rather attractive legs. As she kicked off her high heels, she murmured in a husky tone, "Let's not be too hasty with the threats, okay? Maybe we could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement?" Edging a bit closer, she gave him a sultry smile. "Come on. I can be immensely useful to you... in lots of ways...." 

Hojo made a shooing gesture with a tentacle and chuckled, "Please! Credit me with some taste!" 

"But I've got such a nice surprise for you... HERE!" With the smoothness of many hours of practice, she grabbed the small but extremely powerful handgun strapped to her thigh, whipped it up, and emptied half the clip right into Hojo's face at point blank range. 

He staggered back squealing wildly in shock and pain. As she had hoped, his creatures also began flailing around mindlessly without purpose or direction. She dove through an opening between two howling monsters, rolled to her feet, and took off down the hallway at full speed on bare feet. 

------------------------- 

Reno was pacing as best he could in his small cell when a flash of sequins caught his eye. A familiar-looking blond woman dressed in a singularly tasteless evening gown dashed into the lab, slammed the door closed, and started lavishing kisses on the gun clutched in her hands. 

"Oh baby, you saved my neck again! First, from Heidegger and now Hojo!" She hugged the weapon to her amply endowed breasts. 

"SCARLET!?" 

"RENO!?" Scarlet's jaw dropped open as she saw a totally naked Reno standing in a transparent cylinder. 

With a sour grin, he said, "I knew you were fond of your weapons, Scarlet, but don't you think you're getting a bit carried away?" 

She shoved her hair away from her face and smirked. "Why Reno, those suits you wear do absolutely nothing for you!" She licked her lips as her eyes scanned the Turk from head to toe before settling on a point just below his waist. "I never realized what an impressive... physique... you have." 

Reno suppressed the impulse to cover himself and snarled, "Will you quit admiring my attributes and get me the hell out of this fucking cell!?" 

"Sorry, darling, but as much as I admire that cute ass of yours, I'm more concerned with saving my own butt. I'm outta here!" With those words, she turned to leave. 

"Scarlet, you bitch! You can't just leave us here!" 

"Sure I can! You just watch me! What do you mean 'us'?" She glanced at the other cell. "Oh shit! It's that son of a bitch Cloud! If you think I'm going to risk my neck to save his...." Suddenly a calculating look crossed her face. "Hey...." 

At that moment, there was sounds of a rapidly approaching horde. Scarlet blanched, then bolted out the back door to the lab. Less than a minute later, a mob of Hojo's monsters smashed down the lab door. Reno blandly watched as they stampeded right back out in hot pursuit of the former head of Shinra's Weapon Development Division. 

Cloud lifted his head a bit and muttered, "Did I just see Scarlet go by? Or was that just another hallucination?" 

"Nope. She came and she went, the damn bitch." 

------------------------- 

Scarlet grabbed a post, used it to make a sharp right turn, hit a nondescript panel in a particular pattern, jumped through the opening as the panel abruptly slid aside, then slammed it shut behind her. She took a brief second to catch her breath, then scurried down the access tunnel on hands and knees. At occasional intervals, she opened up hidden keypads and typed in codes, then hurried on her way. 

Finally, she ended up in the backup security room. She tapped a few final commands in the console, then collapsed into a chair, gasping for air. As the security monitors sprang to life, she saw Hojo still staggering around in her office. Scarlet scowled in disappointment and resignation. Since the crazy scientist had managed to survive getting blown to bits by Cloud and company, she hadn't expected her gun to do any permanent harm... but one could always hope. Even as she watched, the gaping wounds in Hojo's head were slowly closing up. 

As she flipped through the images from various security cameras scattered throughout the facility, she frowned angrily. The damned monsters were everywhere. All her escape routes to the outside were cut off. 

"Shit! I'll need an army to blast through all those creatures...," then she smiled wickedly. "I may not have an army, but I know a group of people that'll do just as well." 

Scarlet reached inside a small cooler unit and pulled out a bottle of wine. Uncorking it and taking a few chugs without the benefit of a glass, she laughed and said, "Well, Cloud, you just might be my ticket out of this hellhole, after all. Cheers!" 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6i: EXCHANGING FAVORS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

It was just before dawn, but no one was asleep. While Elena, Reeve, Red, and Cid went over their puny bits of data one more time, the others struggled to find constructive ways to occupy their time. Both Vincent and Barret headed off to the armory to check out their weapons and gather more ammunition. Tifa paced. Strangely, it was Yuffie who was managing -- just barely -- to keep Tifa from punching holes in the walls in frustration. 

Reeve dragged his hand through his hair. Nothing. No clues. Hours of pouring over records trying to guess where Scarlet's secret research facility might be, but they still couldn't narrow the field any more. There were still four possible locations and no way to eliminate even one of them. 

(That's even assuming that Scarlet's facility is even one of the four. AND assuming that Hojo didn't change his mind and go somewhere else.) 

Taking a break from repairing the Highwind II, Cid finally threw up his hands. "Hell, at this point, we might as well pick our target by closing our eyes and sticking a pin in the fucking map! At least we'd be doing SOMETHING!" 

The intercom abruptly buzzed. Everyone froze, waiting. 

"Reeve here." 

"Sir, we have an urgent video transmission for you!" 

"What? From who? Never mind. Just put it through." The picture of a tired, disheveled blond woman appeared on the monitor screen. 

"Scarlet!?" 

"I want to make a deal, Reeve." 

"A deal!? What the hell are you up to!?" 

"Listen, you're looking for your spiky haired buddy, right?" 

Reeve suddenly sat up straight. "Go on." 

"I know where he is. And I know where Hojo's taken him." 

"So... what do you want for that information?" Reeve silently typed out a command for a trace on the call. 

"I want you guys to save my damn neck!" 

"HUH!?" everyone chorused. 

"Listen, I'm stuck here with hordes of Hojo's damn pets running around. If they catch me, I'm history. I want someone to get me out of here! In exchange, I'll help you rescue Cloud and Reno." 

Elena yelled, "Reno's there too!?" 

"So where the hell are they?" snapped Reeve. 

"Uh uh. You do this MY way. Here's the deal. You rescue me FIRST, then I'll help you find them." 

"Why should we do that?" 

"I know you're probably tracing this call this very minute. But knowing the location really won't help you. This call is coming from a remote transmitter. Besides, you need me if you want to locate your friends. This entire factory is booby-trapped and I've just put this place on maximum security alert. Now Hojo may not care how many of his creatures die wandering around this place, but I'm sure YOU don't want to run my little gauntlet." 

Reeve glared at her. 

In a more conciliatory voice, Scarlet said, "And I know this place like the back of my hand. I can get you to Cloud and Reno by the quickest and safest route." 

"What guarantees do we have that you'll keep your end of the bargain?" 

"Don't be an idiot, Reeve! I know that you guys won't leave until you rescue your buddies. So if I want to get out alive, I have to make sure you guys stay alive too. How about it?" 

Yuffie yelled, "We can't trust that sly, overpainted bitch!" 

"Hey hey hey...." Scarlet sputtered. 

Reeve, exhausted and worried over Cloud, lost his usual cool and yelled, "Stop that! You're starting to sound like that jackass Palmer!" 

There was a long silence. 

"There's no reason to be THAT insulting." Scarlet actually sounded like her feelings were hurt. 

Elena muttered, "That WAS sorta hitting below the belt, you know." 

Reeve said, "Cid. I think it's your call." 

Yuffie jumped up and down, shouting, "It's a damned trap! She's probably working with Hojo!" 

Scarlet retorted, "Working with Hojo!? Listen, you barbaric hellcat! How stupid do you think I am!? The freak's gone totally around the bend! There's no making deals with a person like that!" 

"You could be setting us up just to save your damn neck!" 

"You think he gives a fuck about you? If you aren't one of his experimental subjects and as long as you aren't interfering with his so-called work, it's 'out of sight, out of mind'! That's the only reason I've managed to stay alive this long! He's been too busy with his new little projects to hunt me down seriously. And his creatures are so stupid, they won't do a damn thing without Hojo's direct commands." 

"Come on, Scarlet! If you've managed to escape from him this long, why can't you get away from the plant? You've obviously got plenty of backup plans and escape routes. Why haven't you used them?" said Cid in an decidedly suspicious tone of voice. 

Scarlet snarled, "Because I got damn lucky the first time around. Hojo knows squat about security so he didn't have his creatures search me. But all bets are off now. I've got weapons but I'm just one person and this close combat shit is NOT my strong point, okay? I step outside my hiding hole and I'm going to get nailed, sooner or later. That's where you guys come in." 

Cid said, "Enough of this crap. We've got no choice." He looked around at his friends. "I say we go for it. Scarlet, you've got a deal. Now where the hell are you and how do we get there without having to fight through all of Hojo's monsters? We know he's got a bunch of aerial creatures...." 

"You're damn right. You show up in the Highwind and you wouldn't get within a mile of this place. You'll have to go underground. There's a two mile tunnel that leads directly into the middle subsurface levels of the factory. But the only way to reach the entrance of that tunnel is to hike through a cave system that comes out onto the surface about.... oh, twenty miles from the facility." 

"Twenty miles!" Cid sputtered. 

"Yes, twenty miles, you old goat. That should put you outside of their ground patrols. It isn't too difficult but it's only passable on foot. It should take you guys... oh, about 8 to 12 hours if you keep moving. Now listen carefully. Every mile in the caves, you're going to having to find the security checkpoints and type the right codes in or something really nasty is going to happen to you. The same thing in the tunnel and the plant itself but at shorter intervals. PAY ATTENTION. If you screw up, not only are you liable to get hurt but the noise is probably going blow any chance for surprise. Got it? This plant is completely off the official records so there are no blueprints." 

Tifa muttered, "Paranoid bitch." 

"I heard that, slut." 

Cid took a deep breath. "Yeah. Just make sure you get the damn codes right!" 

Reeve said, "I'm recording. Go ahead, Scarlet." 

She concisely rattled off security codes, locations of security checkpoints, and the path to a secure meeting point. Scarlet finished with, "I'll be waiting for you guys. From there, I'll show you the way to the lab level where they've got your friends." 

Cid said grimly. "We'll be there. But try to double-cross us and I will personally nail your ass to the wall. Got it?" 

"Yeah, yeah. You just make sure you do your part." Her eyes shifted nervously, then her painted lips tightened. "There's a small, but fully functional Mako reactor at this facility and Hojo's been messing around with it. I don't need to tell you what THAT means. There's also a lot of weird equipment being installed in the labs. It looks too damn similar to one of Hojo's old cloning setups for my liking." 

"Shit, Scarlet....!" 

She took a deep breath and said, "Listen, Reeve. One last thing. Not only is Hojo mucking around in my labs...." 

"Yes?" 

"He's got some huge project going on in the lowermost levels. His creatures have been hauling in hundreds... and I mean hundreds... of human bodies into that area. And nothing's coming out." 

Reeve's stomach flip-flopped queasily. "Can't you see what's going on with your security cameras?" 

"None of the cameras down there are working. Hojo's beasts must have damaged them. I'm not sure whether that's deliberate or accidental." 

Tifa barged in with an urgent, "Have you seen Cloud!? Is he all right?" 

"He's alive. That's all I can say. He wasn't looking too hot when I last saw him." A definite tone of malice entered Scarlet's voice. "You better not take too long getting here. I've got a feeling that Hojo's planning to have some serious fun with your friend Cloud." 

Tifa snarled, "You bitch! You think that's funny!?!?" 

Scarlet's reply was just as angry. "Listen, I think he fucking deserves to suffer, considering the trouble he's caused ME. The only reason that I'm making a deal here is to save my own neck." She paused, then glanced away from the camera, staring at something off-screen. 

"What the hell is he doing now?" she muttered. Scarlet's eyes abruptly widened in shock. "Oh shit...." 

"WHAT!?" everyone yelled. 

"He... well, Hojo was in the lab talking to your buddy Cloud, then he suddenly... well, he sort of... ah, cut Cloud open." She grimaced. "Without the benefit of anesthetic, either." 

Tifa screeched, "He did WHAT!?" 

Scarlet started to look a touch queasy. "Oh sick.... He's rummaging around Cloud's guts.... Ewwww! Wait, it looks like Hojo's just pulled something out of his body." She squinted. "Damn these cameras. Looks like some sort of small package." 

"Fuck...," muttered Cid, his cigarette falling to the floor and burning a hole in the carpet. 

"How big is it!?" yelled Red. 

"How big!?" Scarlet glanced back at them in astonishment. "What sort of goddamn question is that? Oh, it's a cylinder about the size of my hand. Why?" 

"What color is it!?" 

"Color!? C'mon! Hojo just ripped the damn thing out of someone's guts! You think I can tell you what color it is!?" 

"Oh fucking shit... if that's what I think it is...." Yuffie had a white-knuckled grip on the desk. 

"Reeve, answer me!" snapped Scarlet. 

Cid whispered, "It was under our noses all this goddamn time. The bitch Roissy must have known all along. Hell, she probably was the one who hid the damn thing in Cloud in the first place!" 

"And Roissy told her sister Montessi, who then killed her own sister to keep the sample's location a secret," babbled Tifa. 

"And that's why Montessi tried to kidnap Cloud!" finished Red. 

"REEVE!!!" shrieked Scarlet. "What the hell's so special about that damn package!?" 

"That's a cell sample...." 

"So WHAT!?" 

"....of Sephiroth...." 

There was a long pause as Scarlet absorbed this unpleasant bit of information and put it together with the other things she'd seen going on around the plant. 

"The cloning equipment he's been setting up... the removal of the Mako reactor safety interlocks...." Echoing Yuffie, she whispered, "Oh fucking shit...." She then took a deep breath, then shrieked, "What are you assholes waiting for! DO SOMETHING!!! GET ME THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!!" 

They all looked at each other, then stampeded for the Highwind. 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6j: RENDING NIGHTMARES  
------------------------------------------------------ 

The door to the lab abruptly opened. Hojo, accompanied by several of his creatures, walked or slithered into the room. 

"Have you been having pleasant dreams?" Hojo murmured nastily as he peered at Cloud, who lay still and barely conscious at the bottom of his cell. 

"Hojo, you're such a bastard," snapped Reno. 

The scientist shrugged, then waved at his minions. They roughly hauled Cloud of his cell, then held him up in front of Hojo. 

Cloud stared at the raw looking patches on Hojo's face and head. The young man chuckled weakly and said, "It looks like you ran into something painful. I'm SO glad." 

Hojo's tentacles twitched angrily. "Just a minor inconvenience called Scarlet." The scientist stared at Cloud with particular intensity. 

"What the hell are you up to, Hojo?" but Cloud received no reply. Suddenly, he heard a sharp, piercing whining in his skull as everything he saw acquired a blood-red tinge. The blinding stab of pain that accompanied the sound was very different from the purely physical agony in the rest of his body. It was also unpleasantly familiar. If it hadn't been for the monsters gripping his arms, he would have collapsed to the floor. 

Cloud gritted his teeth and snarled, "Give it up, Hojo! 

Hojo leaned back, breathing heavily. "Interesting. It's much harder to control a human than I thought it would be." With a shrug, the scientist said, "It was worth a try. But don't worry. You might have slipped your leash temporarily, but Sephiroth will soon bring you back to heel." 

The young man gasped, then said, "I'm not going to be Sephiroth's puppet and I'm sure as hell not I'm going to be YOURS! Now get the fuck out of my head!" 

Hojo was not impressed. "Do you really think you could ever really resist Sephiroth's influence? Every cell in your body is linked to Sephiroth. Don't forget, you didn't merely undergo the standard SOLDIER process, but rather the much more intensive treatments used to create Sephiroth Clones." Hojo leaned forward, his voice dripping with malice. "You were designed to be as close to Sephiroth as I could possibly manage. It's true that the process is not substantially different from the one used to create SOLDIERs, but it's more.... More of everything... more drugs... more Mako... more Jenova cells." 

Cloud went very quiet for a few minutes, then he started to snicker softly. It wasn't loud, but the eerie edge to Cloud's laughter made Reno seriously wonder if he was in the presence of not just one lunatic, but rather TWO lunatics. 

"Practically all of THEM are dead... Stephan, Roissy, Montessi.... That means there's only three people from THAT time left... no, sorry, make that three and two halves... oops, if two halves equal one, then I guess that makes it four...." Cloud shrugged carelessly. "Anyway, you and Sephiroth are two of them. I'll get rid of all of you, one way or another. You'll see. Just watch me." 

Hojo tipped his head slightly. "Now this is even more interesting... another shift. Hmmm. Unfortunately, I don't have time to study the matter further. I've come for the sample." 

Cloud growled in hatred as the monsters each grabbed an arm or leg, then held him spread-eagle. Hojo smirked, then lashed out with a razor-tipped tentacle, driving it deep into Cloud's abdomen. 

He screamed once, then choked as blood flooded his mouth. All he could manage was a strangled gurgle as Hojo poked and prodded. The pain from the initial stab was bad enough, but nothing compared to the feeling of Hojo's tentacle twisting and slithering around in his guts. Cloud was suddenly barraged with flashes of agonizing memories... memories of even more intimate violations of mind, body, and soul.... 

(No... NO... NO!!! GET OUT OF ME! STOP IT STOPITSTOPIT...!!!) 

Between the shock, the blood loss, the pain, and mental trauma, Cloud finally passed out. 

------------------------- 

Reno could do nothing but glare furiously at Hojo. The scientist abruptly froze, then with a triumphant cry, pulled something from Cloud's belly with a loud slurping noise. Reno couldn't see what the object was, but Hojo cradled the hand-sized item in his tentacles like it was a cherished baby. 

Hojo positively caressed the blood-covered object and cuddled it against his cheek with a tender, loving care that made Reno absolutely nauseous. The scientist then did a grotesque jig of triumph around the lab, chortling wildly. 

"Hahahaha! It's really there! Intact! Yes! All my hopes... all my dreams! YES!!! Oh beautiful specimen! I can FEEL it! You're the real thing, all right! Yes, yes. It WILL work! All parts of JENOVA are interconnected so the transfer of genetic and cellular data...." 

Reno thought Cloud was dead. But as Hojo continued to babble, a faint movement told the Turk that the young man was still alive. How long he'd remain alive with his injuries was an open question. 

The scientist spared the unconscious, heavily bleeding Cloud a brief glance, then plucked an emergency medical kit off the wall. Reno watched with narrowed eyes as Hojo sloppily bandaged the deep wound in Cloud' side, then ordered his guard creatures to toss the young man back into his cell. 

"What the hell are you up to, Hojo?" snapped the Turk. 

The scientist giggled madly. "I want him around to see my moment of triumph." 

"Triumph? What the hell...?" 

"Yes! Triumph! When Sephiroth again walks this miserable Planet!" Hojo held up the cylinder in his tentacles and slyly asked the Turk, "Do you know what this is? This is your doom. My son will soon be back to complete his destiny... to become a god!" 

"Son!?" Then Hojo's previous words finally clicked. "You mean Sephiroth was your SON!? And you're planning to bring him back?" 

"Oh yes! You should be honored. You will be among the first to see his glorious return!" 

With those words, Hojo swept out of the lab, cackling madly. 

"Sephiroth? Oh shit!" Reno sank down to the floor of his cell and shook his head in rueful disbelief. "Great. Just fucking great." 

------------------------- 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 6k: TO THE RESCUE  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As the Highwind II headed off at top speed to the rocky region north of Rocket Town, Cid kicked one of the ship's bridge consoles and muttered, "I can't believe that I didn't think of it!" 

Yuffie muttered, "Gee, I wonder how Cloud's gonna feel when he realizes that he's been carting around a chunk of Sephiroth all this time." 

"Oh, be quiet!" snapped Tifa. "Cid, can't we go any faster!" 

"I'm red-lining it right now! Remember, I still haven't had the chance to overhaul the engines after that big fight last evening!" 

Red shook his head ruefully. "Actually, when you think about it, it makes a weird sort of sense. A hiding place that no one would think of." 

"But how could Hojo have possibly missed a wound like that?" 

Red glanced uncomfortably at Tifa, then slowly shook his head. "Just another minor incision on an experimental subject... perhaps one among many." 

"How would you...?" Her voice abruptly trailed off. Tifa whispered, "Sorry, Red. I forgot all about what happened to you." 

The beast shrugged the matter away. "That's in the past. It's not important. Anyway, why would Hojo notice? He probably had many other projects to oversee. Remember, it was Dr. Stephan, Roissy's lover and accomplice, who actually performed much of the experimentation on Cloud. Besides, Roissy was apparently using Cloud just as a temporary hiding place, except...." 

Cid muttered, "Except Zack and Cloud screwed things big-time up by escaping." 

"Exactly." 

Tifa stopped wringing her hands and said, "But what about Cloud!? We don't even know if he's still alive!" 

Cait Sith said quietly, "I'm pretty sure he is." 

"How do you know that?" 

"Scarlet says that Hojo sort of patched Cloud up before dumping back into his cell. She also managed to get some of the intercoms working so we could get some audio. It's hard to understand, but I'm pretty sure that Hojo wants Cloud alive....." 

"That's a relief!" Tifa said with a weak smile which rapidly faded when she saw the little robot cat slowly shaking its head. "Isn't it?" she asked desperately. 

"I wish I could be so optimistic, Tifa, but... just before Scarlet and I lost the audio, we heard Hojo say -- and I quote exactly -- 'When Sephiroth returns, I'm sure he won't have any problems restringing his puppet.'" 

Tifa frantically shook her head. "No... he can't do that! He CAN'T! Cloud broke Sephiroth's control over his mind when we were in the Lifestream!" 

Yuffie quickly patted Tifa's shoulder. "No way! Hojo's just being a vicious bastard." She glared at the others. 

Cid managed to keep a poker face and said, "Yeah. I'm sure the bastard's just trying to jerk Cloud around. And we're not going to give him OR Sephiroth the chance to screw around with Cloud." He glanced at the Turks. "Or with Reno. Right, guys?" 

Everyone nodded vigorously, fierce determination on all their faces. 

-------------------------  
(end of Part 6) 

------------------------------------------------------  
------------------------------------------------------ 

In part 7,   


- Guess who FINALLY shows up! 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra 


	7. Mind Game v2 sidestory

Last major revision: 10/18/98  
Last modified: 02/10/99 

======================================================================  
    CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:    
    A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  
    PART 6 (side story):  MIND GAME  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  
    All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd.  The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only.  This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.                  
    All original characters are the creation of the author.  All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author.   

---------------  
Author's notes: 

    WARNING:  Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

    This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic.  It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  
    (  ) are character thoughts  
    /  / and //  // are mental dialogue  
    [   ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects 

**********************************************************************  
********************************************************************** 

    In the basement of the Shinra Building, there exists a storage area for all the video recorded by the security littering the building.  But in the chaos that follows the Meteor incident, most people forget about the videotape archive... and the secrets it contains. 

    On one of the topmost shelves sits a box of videotapes recorded on the night of President Shinra's death.  Most of the footage consists of the same monotonous views of empty detention cells on the 67th floor, but there are three tapes that might be of particular interest.  Each was neatly labelled 'Avalanche'.  The first tape covers a cell containing a large black man with a gun grafted on his hand and a large, red-furred beast that looks like a cross between a wolf and a cat.  The second tape shows a pretty brown-haired young woman quietly sitting on an uncomfortable cell cot.  The third tape focuses on a cell containing a skimpily dressed woman with long, dark hair.  She lies on the lone cell cot while her male companion sits on the floor.   

    He's of medium height or perhaps a bit shorter, with a muscular but not over-developed physique.  A quick search of the Shinra personnel database would have quickly identified the spiky blond-haired young man as Cloud Strife. 

------------------------- 

[ Shinra security video, 67th floor detention area, Cell B ]     

    Without warning, the door to Cloud's cell slid open and a tall, instantly recognizable black-dressed man with long, silvery-white hair stepped inside.   

    Sephiroth glanced briefly at Tifa as she slept, then he turned his attention to the young man slouched against the wall.  Minutes ticked by as he stared down at the peacefully sleeping Cloud with a faint frown on his face.   

    Slowly... tentatively... Sephiroth bent down and reached out his hand.  It was an hesitant, almost gentle sort of gesture.  But before he touched Cloud, Sephiroth's expression abruptly went cold and remote.  He again reached for Cloud, but this time, he brutally grabbed the young man by the throat and effortlessly hauled him to his feet.  Despite the rough handling, Cloud remained fast asleep until Sephiroth said, "WAKE UP." 

    Cloud's eyes slowly opened at Sephiroth's softly voiced command, then widened in shock as he recognized the man in black standing in front of him.   Fear warred with hatred on his face as he mutely stared at the man he had once idolized so much. 

    A sinister little smile appeared on Sephiroth's lips and he lightly brushed his fingers along Cloud's cheek.  But unlike his earlier, aborted gesture, there was no kindness or gentleness in the ex-general's hands now.     

    In a malevolent purr, Sephiroth said, "What do we have here?  A little SOLDIER boy?  Or a fool playing dress-up?  You don't remember a thing, do you?  How remarkably convenient.  After all, who would want to be a failure like you, hm?" 

    Under Sephiroth's contemptuous gaze, the young man visibly cringed.  The black-caped man glanced over his shoulder at the soundly sleeping Tifa, then turned back to his hapless victim.   

    "Nibelheim burned and you did nothing.  Pretty little Tifa lay bleeding all over the reactor floor and you did absolutely nothing.  While you blubbered like an idiot... while you were moaning and wailing about your lost family and hometown... someone else was trying to DO something about it.  Someone else was checking for survivors.  Someone else was saving little Tifa's life.  Someone else was trying to stop me... and amazingly enough, he managed to succeed... or partially, at least." 

    Sephiroth cocked his head slightly, then lightly tapped Cloud's forehead.  "Isn't it amazing what a little self-delusion will do?  All the shame... all the helplessness... gone." 

    Cloud shuddered and he shook his head frantically.  His mouth moved but no words emerged. 

    "My, don't we even look the part?  Instead of being a nobody, you're now a dashing ex-SOLDIER, complete with a suitably formidable weapon and... wardrobe."  There was a barely noticeable pause in Sephiroth's voice on the last word, but the man quickly shook away the brief instant of hesitation. 

    He leaned closer and whispered viciously, "You can dress like a SOLDIER."  Sephiroth tapped the familiar insignia on Cloud's belt.  "You might even be able to trick yourself into fighting like a SOLDIER.  But you'll never be anything more than a pathetic copy of a real SOLDIER... and an even poorer copy of him...." 

    The anger and confusion in Cloud's expression had long since given way to overwhelming terror.  He cowered under Sephiroth's verbal onslaught but couldn't tear his eyes away from that terrible, ice green stare. 

    "And when I'm through with you, you'll know exactly what you are.  A fake.  A hollow shell.  A puppet of flesh with no name and no mind of its own." 

    Cloud closed his eyes, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.  Sephiroth chuckled quietly. 

    "The truth hurts, doesn't it?  But enough for now.  We'll have plenty of time to talk about this later on.  LOOK AT ME." 

    Cloud involuntarily opened his eyes and met Sephiroth's gaze.  It was a terrible mistake.   

    Long moments passed before Sephiroth released his hold on his victim's chin and stepped back.  Cloud remained frozen in place against the wall, his ice blue eyes utterly empty of thought, will, or feeling. 

    The man in black smiled at the sight.  "Cloud, you wanted so badly to become a SOLDIER.  So be it.  Here are your superior officer's orders.  FOLLOW ME AND OBEY."   

    A wave of his hand and Cloud's blank eyes closed.  The young man slowly slid back to the floor, taking up the same position he had before Sephiroth's entrance.  As Cloud's head sank down on his chest, Sephiroth gave him a little, condescending pat on the head 

    "That's a good boy.  Now we begin the game."   

    With those words, Sephiroth stalked out the cell, sword in hand. 

    He left behind a sleeping young woman, a tormented young man, and an open cell door. 

**********************************************************************  
********************************************************************** 

Just a little tale of 'what might have been', suitably altered to fit the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST plot line.  ^_^ 

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madamhydra@aol.com         /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	8. COI Part 7

Last major revision: 01/26/99  
Last modified: 07/26/99 

Here is the rough draft to part 7. It has NOT been extensively proofread so expect some errors. 

I know, I know. It's been a VERY long wait, but I hope you'll find that this part's worth it -- in size alone, if nothing else! It's about twice as large as any of the preceding chapters, but I couldn't find a way to split it into smaller parts. ^_^; 

There's a lot going on and things might get confusing, so I'm particularly eager for comments and suggestions. 

Public and private C&C always appreciated! ^_^ 

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
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PART 7: REUNION  
====================================================================== 

---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

---------------  
Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

---------------  
Text Conventions  


( ) are character thoughts  


/ / and // // and { } are mental dialogue of various characters  


[ ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects  


--------------- indicate the START of flashbacks/dreams  


--------------- indicate the END of flashbacks/dreams 

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PART 7-1: RESURRECTION ROAD  
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Even deeply unconscious, Cloud became aware of a... presence. It was very, very faint at the moment, but he recognized it instantly. He knew it like he knew himself... perhaps even better. 

He twitched and softly whimpered, "Sephiroth...." 

--------------------------- 

Cid and the rest of the party stood at the entrance to the cave. Tucked underneath a large, overhanging cliff and surrounded by rocks and greenery, the ten foot wide opening was well hidden from all but the most thorough of searchers. 

The pilot grumbled, "I'm sure glad that Scarlet told us exactly where to locate this damn entrance. We could've searched these canyons for weeks before finding the friggin' thing." 

"What about the Highwind?" asked Elena as she glanced skyward. 

"It'll stay here. Hojo's guards are likely to spot it if it gets any closer. Once underground, we'll probably lose radio contact until we hit the factory." Cid paused a moment and glanced sideways at Cait Sith, but the little cat robot looked totally unconcerned by the possible loss of communication. The pilot shrugged and continued, "According to Scarlet, the weapon plant's located on a seaside cliff that's about twenty miles that-a-way." He gestured vaguely toward the northwest. "It'll probably take close to ten minutes for the Highwind to reach us even at top speed. Remember that, guys." Cid looked around and said, "Everyone ready?" 

"Yeah!" rumbled Barret, waving his arms. "Let's do it, man!" 

Yuffie grinned nastily, twirling Conformer around her finger. On the Highwind, Cait Sith had dumped a bag full of new, unfamiliar types of materia onto a table. As everyone helped themselves like kids in a candy shop, the little robot cat had murmured something about 'liberating' the stash from the Shinra research labs. With a little practice and some lab notes that Cait had thoughtfully supplied, the ninja girl was prepared for serious mayhem. 

Vincent merely nodded. It took every bit of his self-discipline to keep his mind focused on their main goal -- rescuing Cloud and Reno -- but he could feel the darkness within him seething and quivering with anticipation at the thought of tracking down Hojo and ripping the mad scientist limb from limb. 

Cracking her knuckles, Tifa also nodded silently. She was a woman with a mission. Anyone or anything that got between her and Cloud was going to get hurt in a big way. There was no way that she was going to let Sephiroth or Hojo get their claws into Cloud again. 

"I'm ready," growled Red with stark simplicity, his flaming tail lashing. 

Cait Sith patted his Mog and smiled, exposing small, but surprisingly sharp teeth. 

Elena, again dressed in a crisp blue suit, glanced at Rude and replied for both of them. "Ready to rock, guys." 

The pilot took a deep breath. "Then let's move out!" 

--------------------------- 

As the hours ticked by, Reno began to sense a change in his surroundings. The air seemed to crackle with an unwholesome energy that made his skin prickle. His gut instincts told him that something really big and really nasty was going down. 

The Turk's gaze drifted back to Cloud. At first Reno had thought that the young man had been as good as dead, considering the haphazard way Hojo had slapped the bandage over Cloud's gaping belly wound. However, it seemed that the bleeding was actually slowing down despite Hojo's sloppy first aid. 

(Hmmm. I guess that those rumors about SOLDIERs having super-fast healing abilities were true. Any ordinary person probably would've died of blood loss and shock long ago.) Reno grinned sourly as he realized that this enhanced healing was probably why Cloud had always managed to last long enough to kick the Turks' butts. 

But while Cloud was alive at the moment, he was still in pretty bad shape. No matter how physically 'improved' SOLDIERs might be, having someone rummaging around in one's guts was a hell of a shock to the system. The kid may have stopped bleeding, but he was still unconscious and looked deathly pale. Nope, Cloud wasn't about to jump up on his feet and hunt down Hojo. 

The familiar sound of approaching monsters made the Turk twitch nervously, but the creatures hadn't come for him. Reno felt a mixture of relief and shame along with a hefty dose of dread as they grabbed Cloud and hauled him away. 

--------------------------- 

"Hold up, Barret!" yelled Yuffie. 

"What!?" 

"Haven't you forgotten about those security checkpoints Scarlet told us about? It's been about a mile, there's that ribbony stalactite she mentioned," the ninja girl pointed to a delicate stone formation hanging from the ceiling, "so the keypad's got be somewhere around here." 

"You mean we've got to waste time looking for a hidden electronic doo-hickey? How do ya even know if that bitch's telling the truth? She could've be bluffing all along." 

Red shook his head. "Unlikely. There's no denying that Scarlet's situation is desperate. She would have instructed us to ignore the checkpoints if at all possible." 

Yuffie sighted off the designated landmark, paced off the specified distances, and started fumbling with an inconspicuous rock on an elevated ledge. 

"Ha! Guys, I found it!" The ninja girl started to rummage in her pockets for the list of security codes. Red had insisted that everyone carried a copy just in case the team got separated. 

Elena said, "Don't worry, I've got it." She quickly but precisely typed in the ten digit code. A green light flashed twice. 

"Yeah, c'mon!" The ninja girl somersaulted off the ledge, landed neatly on one foot, and trotted down the twisty cave path. 

"Show-off," muttered Cid. 

--------------------------- 

Getting repeatedly smacked in the face with a cold, slimy tentacle was not Cloud's favorite way of being dragged back into consciousness... then the pain throughout his entire body brutally reminded him why he had been unconscious in the first place. He groaned softly and couldn't summon up the energy to open his eyes. 

"You're not that badly injured. The poison gas wouldn't have impaired your healing abilities that much," an insufferably smug voice said. 

Cloud muttered wearily, "Damn you, Hojo." He got another stinging smack in the face for that comment. "What do you want from me now?" 

"These creatures of mine certainly have their uses, but they simply don't comprehend the finer points of my work." 

"You dragged me out of my cell just so you could have an appreciative audience?" Cloud asked incredulously. 

"Of course. You're intimately involved in all this. It's only fitting that you should see this. Take a look at my masterpiece... REBORN!" 

Cloud finally managed to pry open his eyes. Although his vision was still refused to focus completely, he could easily make out the huge, clear cylindrical tank before him. Hojo has obviously wasted no time setting his insane plans into motion. To his horror, Cloud instantly recognized the shape tranquilly suspended in the glowing green liquid within the tank. 

He could never forget that long silvery hair which drifted around a face with elegant, yet almost feral features... the sleek, powerful muscles.... 

"Sephiroth...," Cloud whispered in a sick voice. "No. It can't be... not this fast!" 

Somehow, he had expected the whole process to take longer... MUCH longer. But the resurrection of Sephiroth was unlike any other of Hojo's cloning experiments. Actually, it seemed that the term "reconstruction" was a more accurate way of describing what was going on before his eyes. Instead of growing from a baby into an adult, a fully mature body was being assembled starting at the head and working downward. Cloud could literally see Sephiroth's body putting itself together with uncanny speed from the inside out -- bones, then flesh, followed by skin. 

"Oh, but it can! All this has taken place in the space of three short hours. As soon as I placed the sample in this unit, his body began to reconstruct itself with no assistance or guidance from me... almost like it has a will of its own, isn't it? I just provided the raw materials." 

Cloud whispered, "That's NOT what I needed to hear...." 

Three hours... in three measly hours, what had probably been a tiny swatch of tissue no bigger than a fingernail had already rebuilt itself into a recognizable person. The head, neck, upper chest, and shoulders were already complete. At that moment, the skeletal arm bones were being wrapped in muscle. Indeterminate blobs of tissue were coalescing, steadily gaining both definition and texture which transformed them into recognizable internal organs that in turn gradually attached and packed themselves into the body's abdominal region. 

The sight unpleasantly reminded Cloud of seeing Sephiroth in his chrysalis of Materia in the Northern Crater, just before he had so obediently handed over the Black Materia.... 

He tore his gaze away from the tank -- anything to avoid looking at the monster growing inside - then blinked in astonishment as he saw a familiar lethal shape lying on a nearby lab counter next to a pile of equally familiar black clothing. 

"Sephiroth's Masamune!?" 

Hojo chuckled. "Yes, indeed. His sword, ready and waiting." 

"How... how did you....?" 

The scientist giggled. "Pure luck... no, call it fate. Sephiroth was destined to return. Why shouldn't his sword return to serve him... just like you did." 

"You damn well kidnapped me! I didn't have any choice in the matter!" Cloud snarled weakly. 

"Really? Oh, I think you would have been drawn here anyway. I just helped things along," Hojo hissed in a mocking voice. "I confess that I was quite surprised to find the sword. Or perhaps it would be better to say that it found ME. Anyway, this is the first opportunity I've had to analyze the weapon. Metallurgy is hardly my strongest area of expertise, but the things I've discovered...." The scientist rubbed his tentacles together with insane glee. 

"Analyze? Why the hell did you need to analyze it? I thought Shinra gave the damn thing to Sephiroth." 

"Oh no. He found it himself, although I'm not sure where. I never had a chance to examine it. Sephiroth could be quite protective about certain things... and certain people." He leaned close to Cloud as if conveying a great secret. "Do you know that the Masamune is at least as old as Jenova? And that the metal is uncannily similar in composition to other metal fragments discovered near Jenova? How does THAT grab you, hm?" 

Cloud shook his head in an effort to stay conscious. "That's crazy... You're trying to tell me that sword's over 2000 years old?" 

"Yes! Think of it. It probably came in the very same space vehicle as Jenova. It could have been Jenova's very own weapon!" Hojo burst into triumphant giggles. 

Cloud thought, (That might explain why Masamune's proportions and its balance are so weird... and it might explain why Sephiroth's the only person who could effectively fight with the damn thing. The sword's as awkward as hell to lift and nearly impossible to use. I bloody well should know....) 

His thoughts abruptly trailed off in a tangle of confusion. (But... but HOW should I know that? I've never picked up Sephiroth's sword before... I think....) Cloud was sidetracked as Hojo continued with his little story. 

Waving his tentacles wildly in the air, the scientist burbled, "When I found this sword -- or when it found me -- it was a sign... a sign that I would finally succeed in resurrecting Sephiroth himself! Not just a Sephiroth clone -- mere facsimiles, however superior they are to ordinary humans -- but the real thing!" 

Hojo smirked, then added in a pensive voice, "How strange that such a great and dedicated scientist like myself would end up believing in destiny and fate." 

"Don't break a tentacle patting yourself on the back," Cloud growled. 

Hojo ignored the insolent comment and muttered to himself, "I can't wait to see how Sephiroth will react to meeting the TRUE Jenova... Jenova-CORE!" 

(The WHAT!?) Cloud's eyes widened in shocked dismay. He wished that he was just imagining things, but he knew that he'd heard Hojo all too clearly. 

"Jenova-CORE!? But that can't be! Jenova's head was destroyed in the Lifestream...." 

Then Cloud remembered.... 

(No, not destroyed. It was merely LOST in the Lifestream.) 

And Cloud knew first-hand that whatever the Lifestream swallowed, the Lifestream all too often spit back. 

Hojo gave Cloud a sly look. "Oh, so you know about Jenova-CORE, hm? Of course. You must have found a copy of my notes at Nibelheim." 

"You... you're trying to rebuild Jenova also...." 

Hojo snort in contempt. "That female alien body that was found thirty-one years ago was merely a shell, a conveniently sized host for Jenova-CORE." 

Cloud whispered, "You mean that Jenova's really some sort of... of parasite?" 

"Not JUST a parasite! The true Jenova -- Jenova-CORE -- is an entity of unknown shape or form. When it landed on this world, the body in which it was residing was entombed by those meddling Cetra! After 2000 years of interment, only a fraction of the original Jenova-CORE was left, mostly concentrated in Jenova-host's brain. Some of the Jenova-CORE cells were extracted by Gast and went into the creation of Sephiroth." The reminder of his rival make Hojo scowl irritably before he continued speaking. 

"You thought you and your pathetic pack of hoodlums had destroyed me on the Sister Ray, but you were wrong! The important part of me survived and escaped! When I found the head, I realized the truth and I knew what I had to do. And now the day of my triumph has arrived!" 

Hojo might have said more, but a loud siren suddenly went off. An electronic voice over the building's loudspeakers blared, "WARNING. Primary interlock failure. Mako inflow rising to critical levels. Possible reactor breech. Secondary safety interlocks initiated. Shutdown will occurred in two minutes." 

The mad scientist swore furiously. "NO! Stupid computer!" He flung Cloud aside and stormed over to a computer terminal. After angrily punching in a series of commands, the scientist waited impatiently, then hissed, "What do you mean that the interlocks can't be disabled from remote terminals!? The Mako flow must not be interrupted at any cost! I won't have it, you hear me!?" 

The flat synthesized computer voice was suddenly replaced by a human female's voice, dripping with cheerful malice. 

"Too fucking bad, sucker face. Have a nice day." 

"Scarlet, you bitch!" With a howl of rage, Hojo stormed out of the lab. 

--------------------------- 

When Hojo had thrown Cloud aside like a rag-doll, the resulting impact tore open the young man's wounds. He soon found himself on the floor amid a growing pool of blood. But all his physical pain and weakness was nothing compared to his mental and emotional turmoil. From his position, he had a clear, unobstructed view of the tank and the steady progress of his arch-nemesis' reconstruction. He knew he had to do something and do it soon. In a few more hours, Sephiroth would be back. 

To confront Sephiroth again.... 

(Oh god. Isn't killing him not once, but TWICE enough? I can't do this again....) 

But as he slid inexorably into unconsciousness, a grim resolve slowly took over Cloud's mind, crowding out fear, anger... even hatred. 

// Yes, I can.   


// I have to.  


// I promised him that night....  


// I swore that I'd do whatever needed to be done....   


// Whatever it took.....   


// Whatever the cost....  


// I PROMISED....  


// ....to set him free....// 

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PART 7-2: GIRL TALK  
------------------------------------------------------ 

In a way, Red was glad that he and his companions were required to stop at regular intervals to deal with Scarlet's overblown security system. The constant pauses forced his friends to pace themselves. Otherwise, he was sure that Tifa and some of the others would have charged ahead recklessly and ended up in deep trouble. 

"Yo, Red! How much further we got?" rumbled Barret. 

"We're just a little more than halfway there, I believe." In the darkness of the caverns, the beast was the easiest to identify with his flaming tail tip. 

Cid muttered, "Ten miles in three hours. Not bad, considering the terrain, the darkness, and all the damn stops we've had to make." 

By the light of her lamp, Yuffie could see that no matter how quickly they moved, it was much too slow for Tifa. The dark-haired young woman paced impatiently as the Turks looked for the concealed security keypad. The ninja girl reached out and grabbed her tense shoulder. 

"Hang in there, Tifa. We'll get him out of there." 

Tifa has said almost nothing over the last several hours, but now she leaned back against the cave wall and said flatly, "I keep telling myself that." Smacking her fist into the palm of her other hand, she muttered, "Hojo's dead meat." 

Yuffie glanced at Vincent, who perched on a pile of rubble as he waited for the security checkpoint to clear. The ex-Turk had always been a man of few words, but ever since the recent discovery of Hojo's unsuccessful attempts to breed more creatures like Sephiroth, the dark man had been even more silent and withdrawn than usual. 

"Uh, I hate to say this, but I think Vincent might just beat you to it," whispered the ninja girl. 

Tifa shrugged. "Actually, I don't really care WHO kills Hojo. I just want to see him finished, once and for all." She sighed heavily and muttered, "I can't lose Cloud... not after all we've been through already." 

As they both watched Rude and Elena scrambling through the rocks, Yuffie said, "Cloud's tough. I mean, he's not going to give in so easily." 

"Yes, but...." Tifa's voice trailed off. 

(But when monsters like Sephiroth, Hojo, and Jenova are involved, he's in more danger than any of us, Yuffie.) 

Tifa shook her head sharply. "It's just that... I don't want things to end like this. I don't want his last memories of me to be..... Oh hell." 

Turning away from Yuffie, she paced in a tight circle. Thinking about her behavior on the outcrop just before Cloud's abduction, Tifa was forced to realize that the stalled relationship between her and Cloud was as much her fault as it was his. Actually, she was starting to think that most of the blame was hers. 

(Maybe he didn't say or do anything to let me know how he felt... but was it because he didn't want to... or maybe it was because I didn't give him the chance?) 

On the cliff, Cloud was trying to tell her something, but she'd cut him off as soon as he mentioned Aeris. And that hadn't been the first time she had acted that way. Was it any wonder that he had become reluctant to bring up the topic of their relationship, such as it was? In her attempts to protect herself, had she ended up driving him away? 

(Me and my stupid.... I'm such a sniveling coward. Oh, I'm certainly brave enough about physical stuff, but about other things... I'd rather bury my head in the ground and ignore the truth. I just can't seem to deal with the possibility that he doesn't return my feelings. And every time he mentions Aeris.... I wish I could've hated her... but I can't. God, I sound absolutely pathetic. She's dead, I'm alive, and I'm still jealous of her.) 

Jealousy. She was jealous of what Aeris and Cloud had together, jealous of how the other girl could just open herself up. There was no secret how Aeris felt... how much she cared. Tifa closed her eyes. 

Aloud, she muttered softly, "I could never get up the courage to tell Cloud how I felt about him." 

Over the last year, Yuffie had been alternately pestering and teasing Tifa about her relationship with Cloud, but now the ninja girl had the unhappy feeling that she was getting in over her head. However, she doggedly plunged forward. 

"I'm sure he knows that you care about him...," Yuffie said a bit awkwardly. 

"Does he? Or does he just think of me as a childhood friend... no, a childhood acquaintance?" 

Yuffie blinked in confusion. "Huh? I thought you guys grew up together. Childhood sweethearts and all that." 

Tifa shook her head sadly. "Over the years, I basically talked myself into believing we were close friends when we were kids, but that just wasn't true. I saw him around, said 'hello' to him occasionally, and ignored him most of the time. Looking back, I now realize that the other kids really gave him a hard time. It was a small town and they bullied him a lot." 

The ninja girl snorted. "It's kinda hard to imagine someone pushing Cloud around." 

"Oh no. Things were really different when we were kids. When he was young, he was on the small side. A bit sickly... sort of shy and withdrawn, but...." Tifa smiled wistfully, "He was really cute, with that little blond ponytail of his." 

(I wish I'd said something back then. I wonder... would a few kind words have made a difference? I guess I'll never know....) 

A grim look crossed Tifa's face. "And now that I think about it, the adults were even worse than the kids. " 

"No kidding?" 

"Yeah. Nibelheim was a small town. Everyone knew everybody. But Cloud and his mother were always outsiders. She just showed up one day with a baby in her arms. I don't think my parents or the other townsfolk really believed her story about being a widow. There were all sorts of dirty rumors. And when Cloud was growing up, he usually got blamed every time something bad happened -- stuff got stolen or broken, that sort of thing... even the weather! My dad was probably among the worst. I can remember Dad blaming Cloud for some broken windows... as if a nine year old kid had anything to do with a hailstorm!" 

Tifa shook her head wearily. "It's no wonder that he wanted to get away from Nibelheim... no wonder that he wanted to show everyone just how wrong they were about him. My father and the other townspeople pretty much drove him away to Midgar... and look what happened." 

"Tifa, you can't blame yourself if other people acted like total jerks. It wasn't like you did anything nasty to him." 

(But don't you see, Yuffie? It's not the things I did, but the things that I DIDN'T do. Sure, I wasn't cruel to him, but I wasn't nice to him. I didn't try to stop the other kids from picking on him. I didn't try to defend him when the adults blamed him for things I knew he didn't do.) 

Aloud, Tifa quietly whispered, "Sometimes the sins of omission are just as bad as the sins of commission, Yuffie. I could have... I could have done a lot of things...." 

The ninja girl said nothing as Tifa stared up at the rocky ceiling of the cavern and sighed. 

(Cloud wanted me to notice him. It was so stupid of me, stringing him along with that damn promise! I made him think that he HAD to become a SOLDIER in order to impress me! I'm sure that promise only made things worse when he didn't make it into SOLDIER.) Tifa scowled and kicked at a harmless rock. 

Not sure how to respond to her friend's angry gesture, Yuffie settled for a noncommittal, "Umm...." After a moment, she brightened up and said, "Didn't you say that he saved your life back in the Mount Nibel reactor, after Sephiroth hurt you?" 

"Yes... but...." 

"Well, if he was willing to go after Sephiroth, that's gotta mean that he cared about you and that he didn't hold any of those past things against you. And it's pretty clear that he still cares about you and you're obviously crazy about him. Now the trick is to tell him!" Yuffie said cheerfully. 

Tifa glared at Yuffie. "It's not that simple! Don't you think I wanted to? But there are other... things involved here." 

Yuffie sighed and gave up. She'd tried the blatant approach and she'd tried the subtle approach, but it seemed that Tifa was going to keep ducking the whole issue and not tell Cloud how she felt. 

"Tifa...." 

"Yeah?" 

Yuffie bit her lip, then shook her head. "Oh... nothing." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-3: RHAPSODY IN GREEN: SECOND CHANCES  
------------------------------------------------------ 

There was someone... someone very important to him... someone very close... that person was desperately trying to warn him about something, but he couldn't hear him. It was like there was a thick sheet of glass between the two of them, blocking off any sort of communication... or emotion. 

And after a while, it was no longer a matter of 'could not hear', but rather he CHOSE not to hear. 

Eventually, the other presence went away, but he didn't care. He had more important matters to attend to. After all, a god has more important things on his mind than the inane chatter of an insignificant human insect. 

At least, that's what he told himself. But something deep inside him ached with guilt and sorrow... loneliness and grief.... 

Now that special person was back. The mysterious barrier no longer stood between them and he could sense the familiar, cherished presence. But as his consciousness drifted away, he realized that there was something wrong with that presence... terribly wrong. 

--------------------------- 

Some unknown time later, he awoke and sensed chaos, both inside and out... and since he abhorred chaos, he set about imposing some order on his surroundings and himself. Gradually, things began to make sense and memories gradually fell into place.... But still, there was a part of his mind that refused to accept order, no matter how much he tried. And that portion tried to devour him, to drown him in chaos and madness. Like the pull of quicksand, the more he tried to resist, the worse the pull seemed to be. His anxiety steadily grew until.... 

{Let me help....} 

It was just a wisp of a female voice... soft and gentle. He wasn't sure whether it was an actual sound he was hearing or whether it was just in his mind. 

"Who are you?" he demanded, his ice green eyes narrowing warily. 

--------------------------- 

His mind-voice was cold, almost brutally sharp, just as she imagined him to be... just as sharp and piercing as that great long silvery blade he had used when he.... 

Her lower chest seemed to burn and tingle as she shuddered at the unpleasant memory. She hesitated briefly and wondered if she was doing the right thing. It was a huge gamble which could end in utter disaster. But it was a gamble she had to take. 

It was her love's only chance for becoming whole... complete. 

--------------------------- 

{There... is that better?} 

"Yes." 

Surprisingly, it was. He sensed the chaotic, twisted jumble in his mind receding into the background, its seductive pull weakened. A long pause followed before he added, somewhat reluctantly, "It's still there." 

{It's a part of you, no matter how much you despise it. You can't just cut it out and throw it away.} 

The voice acquired a gentle warning tone. 

{I've only managed to temporarily block its effects, but I can't cure the madness or make it go away forever. The protective barrier isn't permanent. It can be broken, either by you or by... other things. It's only a temporary buffer... something to give you enough time to gradually face and deal with your memories with a balanced, rational mind, instead of a mind overwhelmed and drowning in its own chaos. Once you've understand what's happened in the past, then you can unravel that knot of madness yourself and destroy it for good.} 

"Who are you?" With one distraction gone, he could now sense something else calling him... tugging at him. 

{I'm just... a friend of a friend,} was the wistful reply. 

"Who are you?" he demanded again. 

The voice didn't answer in words. He got a fleeting impression of gentle, dark green eyes and an image of a strangely familiar yellow flower. Her mental words were soft and terribly sad. 

{In all the time I knew him... years, but still so short... he never talked about you.} 

She hesitated for a long moment before continuing. 

{I sensed you in him, all those years ago, but you were so much a part of him, I never realized you were there... that there was another PERSON involved. And when I met him again, I was so confused. The face and body were totally different and yet.... Part of him felt so familiar but there was so much pain... he seemed so incomplete.... I wanted to help, but I didn't know how. Back then, I didn't recognize him.... But now... now I know who he really is. And since I've met YOU... the real you... I also know what's been missing in him all this time....} 

He tersely said, "You're not making any sense." 

{Please go and help him. He needs to be whole. YOU need to be whole. That can never happen until you two are together again.} 

"Whole? What are you talking about?" 

There was a sad sigh. 

{But it's going to be so hard... so very hard. There's so much that lies between the two of you... so much that's changed... yet so much remains the same... you still need each other.} 

"I don't NEED anyone," he stated flatly, his cold green eyes flashing. 

{No, I suppose you don't. Each of you could survive alone... perhaps... but neither of you could ever be truly content or happy without the other. Don't you want more from life than mere survival... more than just a barren, hollow existence?} 

He didn't reply, but in a way, his very silence was an answer in itself. Things were falling into place for him. Gradually, he began to understand what -- and who -- the voice was talking about. The brief mental images of the pretty, brown-haired girl and the yellow flower abruptly clicked in his mind... bringing back memories of a better time. 

"The flower girl in the slums." Very quietly he added, "Zack never told me your name." 

{I made him promise and he kept his word. I knew he would. That was the sort of man he was.} 

"Yes, I know." A brief pause followed. "Will you tell me your name now?" 

{Aeris. My name is Aeris.} 

The name suited her perfectly somehow. In a thoughtful voice he asked, "Why are you doing this, Aeris?" 

There was another surge of wistful sadness in her now fading voice. 

{For my first love. Or perhaps, for my only love....} 

Just before his own consciousness faded, he heard her last words echoing in the void. 

{Go find the other half of your soul... Sephiroth.} 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-4: PRELIMINARY STRATEGIES   
------------------------------------------------------ 

After nearly four more hours of hiking, Cid and the others finally reached the end of the natural cave tunnels and the beginning of the two mile stretch of manmade tunnel that led into the heart of Scarlet's weapons plant. The tunnel section was very easy going compared to the caverns, despite the security checkpoints. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they found Vincent waiting for them, his reddish eyes glittering in the subdued lighting. He said nothing, but they could all sense his impatience. Beyond that small, yet massive steel hatchway was the weapon facility, their captured friends... and Hojo. 

A final series of codes and the door opened soundlessly into the back of a medium-sized storage room. Yuffie slithered around the crates and was about to open the other door in the room when a sharp female voice hissed, "Get back in here!" 

The ninja girl jumped and clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle a shriek of surprise. They all whirled to see Scarlet peering out of an large air duct, shotgun in hand. Under other circumstances, it would have been a hilarious sight. Scarlet was still dressed in the same tasteless, sequined evening gown that she had been wearing during her earlier video transmission to Reeve. However, on her feet was a pair of sturdy combat boots that was low in style, but high in utility. 

"Damn it! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Cid growled in a low voice. 

Scarlet merely sniffed and said, "What took you so long? I've been keeping Hojo busy by screwing around with the computer system, but I was running out of things to do." 

Tifa said angrily, "We would have been here sooner if it wasn't for your stupid security! And what kind of idiot designs an escape route twenty-two MILES long?" 

Scarlet curled her lip in contempt. "Well, it got you in here undetected, didn't it?" 

"Why you...!" 

Red growled, "We don't have time to waste arguing. Scarlet, do you know where Cloud and Reno are being held?" 

"I know where Reno's stashed. He's fine, just really pissed off. Your friend Cloud's been dragged off to one of the high security labs. I know which lab but I've got no idea what's going on inside." She shrugged. 

"So what's the plan?" muttered Barret. 

Cid said, "It's pretty simple. Rude, Elena, and Yuffie will go grab Reno. The rest of us go after Cloud." 

Vincent said evenly, "What about Hojo?" 

"And Sephiroth?" Yuffie added uneasily. 

Red shook his head. "Let's worry about rescuing our friends first. The Turks will catch up with us after freeing Reno. Once we're all together, we'll assess Reno's and Cloud's condition. If they are all right or if all they need is some magical healing, we can then try to find out what Hojo's up to and do our best to stop him." The beast hesitated, then continued, "If there's something wrong with Cloud that can't be easily remedied, then we'll need to decide how best to distribute our forces." 

Cid said, "All right, Scarlet. Where do we need to go and what's the fastest way there?" 

Scarlet hauled a small backpack out of the air vent and rummaged around. She pulled out a sheet of paper and spread it on a nearby crate. 

"Okay, this is a floor plan of the lab level. Reno's being kept here." With a long, dagger-like fingernail, she jabbed at a green 'X' on the map. "He's locked in a cell, but there are no guards as far as I know. Cloud was dragged off to THIS lab." Scarlet gestured to an large area bordered in red. "That's the same place where Hojo installed a whole bunch of his special equipment." She folded the map and tossed it over to Rude. 

Cait Sith said, "You mentioned something about a lot of activity going on in the lowermost levels?" 

Scarlet bit her painted lips, then reluctantly said, "Yes. Hojo's creature goons have stopped bringing in the fresh bodies, but the computers show that literally tons of Mako are being pumped into that area, but nothing's coming out. Listen, guys, I agreed to help you get your buddies out of here. I certainly didn't sign on to lead a strike team into Hojo's pet project, okay? I just want to get the hell out of this place alive!" 

"You stupid bitch! Don't you realize that if we don't stop Hojo...!" bellowed Barret. 

"SHHHHHH!!!" several people anxiously hissed. 

Cid ground his teeth. "We can't do anything about it now. With that horde of Hojo's creatures crawling around, we can't afford to split up too much. C'mon, guys! Time's a-wasting." 

Examining their copy of the floor plan, Elena said, "Our target is just down the hall. We'll see you later." 

Red nodded. "Good luck. We'll be waiting for you or meet you on the way. Do you need any more help?" The beast glanced at Vincent. 

The blond Turk shook her head. "No. I think we're okay." 

Tifa whispered to Yuffie, "You okay about this? Going off with the Turks by yourself?" 

The ninja girl grinned and whispered back, "Hey, it's cool. You just worry about Cloud." 

Scarlet called out to Elena. "Oh, by the way, you might need this," and tossed something to Rude. He caught it and stared in confusion at the familiar pair of men's shoes dangling from his hand. 

"...." 

Rude then silently handed the shoes to Elena who muttered irritably, "What the hell are those for?" 

Scarlet smirked as she turned away. "You're a smart girl. Figure it out." 

"C'mon, guys!" Yuffie peeked out into the hallway, then disappeared through the door, followed by the Turks. 

A moment later, the storeroom was deserted as Cid and his party, led by Scarlet, headed toward Hojo's new workshop. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-5: LIBERATION   
------------------------------------------------------ 

When the door to the lab burst open, the startled Reno saw Yuffie standing in the doorway and jumped to his feet, forgetting that he wasn't wearing a single stitch of clothing. The young ninja girl blushed and whistled with distinct appreciation. 

"Oh man, what a bod!" 

Before Reno could think of a suitably sarcastic reply, Elena ran in, snapping, "Girl, keep your mind on business! What the hell are you staring...." The blond then noticed Reno standing in a transparent cell, stark naked. 

"....at?" Elena blinked, then stared in mild astonishment. "Reno!?" 

Normally, the red-haired Turk probably would have enjoyed the idea of having two pretty females ogling him. However, he was in no mood for fun and games. Reno flung up his hands and screamed, "Will you two stop admiring the view and GET ME HELL OUT OF THIS GODDAMN FUCKING CELL!?" 

"Oh... right!" Elena shook herself and hurried over to blast the latch open. 

Reno jumped out of the cell and muttered, "Shit, it's cold! I'm freezing my ass off!" 

Yuffie said mischievously, "But it's such a cute ass!" 

"First that bitch Scarlet, now the ninja pip-squeak has to make comments about my anatomy," Reno snarled as he gave Yuffie a deathly glare. He then whipped around and growled at Elena, "And if YOU say anything, I'm going to hurt you." 

Elena flung up her hands in an innocent 'who me?' gesture and scurried off to locate some clothing for Reno. All she managed to find was a semi-clean lab coat. Reno was not impressed and said as much. 

"Beggars can't be choosers. Here!" the female Turk snapped, thrusting the garment into his hands. Under her breath, she muttered, "What a baby!" She then handed him the pair of men's shoes slung over her shoulder. 

"Where the hell are you doing carrying my shoes around?" 

Elena grinned and said, "Scarlet gave them to me. She said that we might need them, but didn't say why." 

Reno, who was just about to put the shoes on, froze and suspiciously double-checked the shoes before warily slipping them on. 

"That sly bitch! She knew damn well I was stark naked. If she got a hold of my friggin' shoes, she damn well could've gotten my clothes as well! When I get my hands on her...." 

He continued to mutter obscenities under his breath as he slipped the labcoat on. However, his mood immediately improved as Elena started handing over various pieces of weaponry, including his favorite Nightstick. 

"Where's Rude?" 

"Out in the hall, keeping watch. Here," Elena said, handing over several grenades. 

Reno happily noted that the Nightstick was fully charged. After checking out his weapon, he said, "Now what? If the brat's here, the others are sure to be here, too." 

Yuffie, her cheeks still slightly pink, hastily said, "They're looking for Cloud. Come on!" 

----------------------------------- 

Cid and his team came very close to reaching the lab without incident, but the pilot regretfully remembered that 'close' only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades. They turned the last corner and skidded to an abrupt halt when they saw the shambling masses of vegetation guarding the doorway. Ducking back around the corner, Cid muttered, "Shit! That's blown it! We're going to have to take those things out." 

Red sighed, "So much for the element of surprise. If Hojo's mentally linked to his creatures, he'll know the instant we destroy those guards. Scarlet, is there any other way in there?" 

"No. It's a sealed laboratory. It's even got its own independent air handling system. The air ducts in that lab doesn't connect with the ducts in the rest of the complex." 

"Great. Just great." 

The red-furred beast said, "I'll try a sleep spell. If that doesn't work, we'll just have to use brute force and hit them hard." 

"Okay. It's your...." 

At that moment, an alarm started to bleep and yellow caution lights started to flash just above the laboratory's doorway. 

"Oh, to hell with sneaking around! Red...!" shouted Cid. 

The beast was already in the process of toasting the monsters into charcoal with a fire spell. The group raced down the hall, led by Cid. 

"What the hell's that?" Tifa yelled in Scarlet's direction. 

"It means someone's initiated some sort of emergency procedure in the lab!" 

"Like what!?" 

"How the hell should I know!?" Scarlet snapped angrily. 

They skidded to a stop in front of the imposing steel door. Scarlet hastily punched in her override code just as Reno -- dressed in nothing but a pair of stylish men's loafers and an oversized labcoat with pockets bulging with weapons and other implements of destruction -- approached from the opposite end of the hallway, followed by Yuffie and the other Turks. 

Barret stared at Reno's bare legs and smirked. 

The red-haired Turk snarled, "Not a damn word, Barret! Not a fucking word!" 

The lab door slowly swung open with a soft whoosh of air. They charged into the lab and received an very unpleasant surprise. 

A badly wounded Cloud wavered unsteadily on his feet... staring eye to eye with Sephiroth. 

"Oh shit...." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-6: REUNION REDUX   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Something jolted Cloud back into consciousness. Even before he forced his eyes open, he knew he was running out of time. He could feel Sephiroth's presence -- that unmistakable aura of power that always surrounded the man -- steadily growing in strength. 

(How long have I been out? If it's been more than an hour, then I'm in real trouble....) 

One look at the tank confirmed his fears. Sephiroth's new body was already complete. 

(Damn it! No time to waste. I've got to do something NOW, while he's still helpless and vulnerable. Otherwise....) He didn't want to think about what might happen if Sephiroth regained consciousness. 

Cloud slowly crawled over to a nearby cabinet and used it to haul himself to his feet, fighting to stay conscious every inch of the way. Once upright, he glanced around the lab, looking for something suitably deadly. To his misfortune, the only thing that fit that description was the Masamune. 

Gritting his teeth, Cloud staggered over to the sword, ignoring the large splotches of blood he left in his wake. He stared at the blade for a minute or two, trying to gather the courage to pick it up. Cloud wondered at his own audacity in daring to use Sephiroth's own sword against him, even as he recoiled from handling the weapon that had slain Aeris so effortlessly. 

But there was nothing else he could use and he didn't have the strength or the time to look elsewhere for a better weapon. And if there was one thing he knew about Masamune, it was that the sword excelled at killing. 

Cloud reached out and picked up the long elegant sword. He wasn't sure what he was expecting -- perhaps a lethal zap of energy or some sort of mental attack -- but nothing happened. Masamune simply felt like a fine, but very awkwardly balanced piece of steel. 

But it was also a familiar sort of feeling. 

(I've held this weapon before. I know it.) 

He shoved that thought aside and slowly made his way over to the tank, blade in hand. As precious seconds ticked by, he scanned the nearby control console before finding the switch he was looking for -- the big yellow striped one labeled 'EMERGENCY FLUID DUMP'. 

Cloud took a deep breath and punched the button. An alarm started bleeping and yellow lights began to flash. He ignored them, focusing every bit of his attention on the tank's contents. At first nothing happened, then there was a sucking noise like a uncorked bottle. The glowing green fluid seemed to ripple, then it quickly began to drain away. As the liquid level sank lower and lower, so did Sephiroth's body. Cloud tensed anxiously as the body came to rest on the bottom of the tank, but nothing happened. Sephiroth's eyes remained closed. The body remained limp and unmoving. 

(I think I made it just in time. God, I hope so.) 

In less than a minute, the large tank was empty. Gritting his teeth, Cloud hit the OPEN button. In a swift, silent motion, the tank walls slid upward and disappeared into the ceiling, leaving Sephiroth's motionless body sprawled on the damp grating that formed the tank bottom. 

With one hand clutching Masamune and his other arm wrapped around his torso in a futile effort to slow the bleeding from his stomach wound, Cloud carefully walked toward the unconscious body. He winced as he splashed through the few remaining puddles of glowing liquid. The concentrated Mako in that liquid made his skin burn and brought back flickers of excruciatingly painful memories. 

But even as he came within a few yards, the silver-haired body twitched. 

"No, damn it...," hissed Cloud under his breath. He watched, frozen in dismay as Sephiroth slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees. With damp, silvery hair streaming over his face, Cloud's dreaded enemy began to hack and cough as he struggled to clear the liquid from his lungs. 

Cloud had no sympathy for Sephiroth's discomfort. This was no time to falter. He clenched his teeth, wrapped both hands around Masamune, and stepped forward to the attack. As the blood continued to ooze from the deep wound in his side, Cloud awkwardly hauled the long, ill-balanced blade of Masamune over his head... then froze. 

He couldn't do it. 

/ KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW! / 

/ WHATAREYOUWAITINGFORYOUFUCKINGIDIOT!!! / 

While one part of Cloud was screaming for him to bring the sword down and cut Sephiroth in half while the bastard was still helpless, another part of him hesitated. Not because he sensed something wrong, but because he sensed something... RIGHT. 

Even as Cloud stood, paralyzed with conflicting emotions, Sephiroth suddenly turned his head and stared up at him. 

--------------------------- 

Glowing sky blue eyes stared into glowing ice green eyes. 

SANE ice green eyes. 

The eyes had the same cool arrogance as they had always possessed, but the sinister haze of obsession and madness was no longer present. Something deep inside in Cloud -- an instinct or feeling that utterly refused to be denied or quieted -- told him in no uncertain terms that this was NOT the monster who had nearly destroyed the entire Planet. 

THIS was the real Sephiroth. 

// You're back. Oh god... Seph.... // 

And even as Cloud stared blankly at the man who had been the source of so much pain and misery for so many people, the subdued sense of grief and loss that had haunted the young man almost continuously for nearly a year quietly faded away. 

--------------------------- 

But somewhere in a distant, hidden place, there was no rejoicing. Something dark and twisted unleashed a maddened howl of fury, rage, and frustration. 

It was a dire promise of mayhem and destruction to come.... 

--------------------------- 

His eyes widened in growing horror as Cloud realized that he was actually GLAD to see Sephiroth alive again. So much of the quiet but persistent sadness that had haunted him this past year.... He had thought it had been for Aeris. 

Wrong. 

It has been for Sephiroth all along. 

(No...no, it can't be. It CAN'T!!! How could I possibly... after what he's done to everyone... done to ME... how...!?) 

....Fear.... 

....Elation.... 

Cloud shuddered as a naked Sephiroth gracefully rose to his feet. As the other man dragged his long, damp silvery hair back from his face, those unforgettable, icy green eyes seemed to bore right through Cloud as they warily assessed him. 

Behind Cloud, the door to the lab swung open as Cid and the others charged into the room. But their presence and shouts went unnoticed by the two men who stared at each other. 

....Rage.... 

....Joy.... 

The Masamune in Cloud's hands sank lower and lower as he continued to gaze at Sephiroth with a stunned expression. The blade finally slipped from his numb fingers and hit the floor with an almost musical chime. 

....Hatred.... 

....Friendship... and so much more.... 

The onslaught of so many conflicting emotions, on top of his numerous physical injuries, was simply too much for Cloud. Without fanfare or warning, he silently passed out and collapsed neatly into Sephiroth's arms. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-7: RUDE AWAKENINGS  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Sephiroth felt like he was drowning... a painfully familiar sensation. He hacked and coughed as he struggled to clear the liquid clogging his lungs. 

(Hojo, damn you....) 

He wasn't sure what was going on. All he knew at the moment was that Hojo had to be responsible somehow. After all, he'd been through all this before... as a child. 

But staring down at the elegant bones of his hand... an adult-sized hand... he realized that he wasn't a child any more. So how did this happen? When he had joined SOLDIER, he had sworn to himself that he would never ever submit to Hojo's authority again. 

Never. No more poking and prodding. No more experiments.... 

So what was he doing naked, shaking, and dripping wet... again? 

Fragments of a dream hovered at the corners of his mind... a young woman's voice... a yellow flower... something lost that had to be found and reclaimed... but he couldn't quite remember what the dream was about. All he knew was that it involved something terribly important to him. 

Sephiroth then realized that he was not alone. Someone was standing over him. He glanced to the side and caught a glimpse of sturdy military boots and dark blue pants, all freshly soaked with blood. 

He took a deep breath, then hauled himself to his feet in one smooth motion to face the person hovering over him... and found himself staring into the face of a young man with spiky blond hair and glowing blue eyes that were wide open in shock. In the young man's upraised hands was his own sword, Masamune. But before Sephiroth could react to the obvious threat, the other man slowly lowered the blade before letting it slip out of his hands to the floor. 

With those glowing eyes, Sephiroth knew the young man had to be a SOLDIER. He seemed familiar -- almost painfully familiar in many ways -- but it took a few seconds before a name surfaced in his usually perfect memory. 

(Strife. Cloud Strife.) 

But Strife wasn't a SOLDIER. Strife was just an ordinary trooper. In fact, he couldn't remember ever meeting anyone less suited to becoming a SOLDIER. 

As Sephiroth struggled to understand what was happening, he was also unhappily aware of the howling mob of extremely hostile people converging on him. Just as he was judging the distance to his sword, Strife's eyes suddenly closed and he quietly crumpled forward in a dead faint. An odd impulse made Sephiroth to catch the unconscious young man instead of stepping aside and callously allowing Strife to land flat on his face. 

(Nibelheim. The last thing I remember clearly is arriving at Nibelheim. But what happened after that? How did I end up here? What has Hojo been doing to me?) 

His eyes abruptly focused on the belt around Strife's waist. 

(What the...?) 

He knew that belt. He knew every little nick and scratch on it, just as he knew every inch of Masamune. 

(What is this man doing with Zack's belt?) 

Then perhaps the most disturbing question of all. 

(And where IS Zack?) 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-8: THE ONE YOU DON'T SEE....  
------------------------------------------------------ 

Cid and the others all watched as Cloud stood there, Masamune in hand, confronting an unarmed Sephiroth. But to their mutual dismay, instead of striking his enemy down while he had the chance, Cloud slowly lowered the blade before letting it fall to the floor. 

"You stupid jerk! What are you doing!" Barret bellowed in fury. 

At that moment, Cloud suddenly went limp and collapsed into Sephiroth's arms. 

Red growled in frustration. With Cloud so close to Sephiroth, there was no way to use their most potent attacks without injuring Cloud as well. However, they couldn't afford to hesitate, either. If they allowed Sephiroth to collect his wits, they could all very easily die for that mistake. 

Heedless of her own safety, Tifa charged forward, screaming, "You bastard! What did you do to him!?" 

Sephiroth had been staring down at the blond man in his arms with a thoughtful expression on his face, but when he heard Tifa's cry, he lifted his head and coldly surveyed the group confronting him. His eyes abruptly narrowed. In one smooth motion, he heaved the unconscious Cloud in Tifa's direction, then dove for the Masamune. 

Even as Tifa instinctively caught Cloud's limp, blood-covered body, Cid shouted, "Shit, somebody stop him before he...!" 

But it was too late. With an impressive show of dexterity and skill, Sephiroth scooped up his sword and started spellcasting in one fluid movement. Tifa, clutching Cloud to her, prepared herself to be blasted into oblivion as one of the materia orbs on Masamune began to glow. 

Cid and the others fully expected to get pounded by some massive, devastating attack. What they got was something else entirely. 

Sephiroth did indeed cast a spell, but to everyone's utter shock, it was NOT an offensive spell. In a blink of an eye, he had slapped a protective barrier spell not just on himself, but on the entire group. 

"What the hell...?" a totally confused Reno muttered. 

Vincent was the first to realize that perhaps Sephiroth had seen something that they hadn't.... Cursing himself for being so easily distracted, he spun around. Only his lightning swift reflexes enabled to get off a shot at the monster lunging toward him. 

Sephiroth glared furiously at them and snarled, "You fools! Behind you!" 

Red whirled. All his hair bristled on end as he saw the seething horde of monsters clawing their way through the doorway toward them. They had been so preoccupied by their confrontation with Sephiroth, none of them had noticed the monsters creeping up behind them. 

"CRAP!" swore Cid as his head swiveled back and forth. It didn't look good. They were trapped with Hojo's pet monsters on one side and Sephiroth on the other. 

Sephiroth spoke in a low, threatening voice. "Don't just stand there. If you're not going to fight, then get out of my way and let me handle them." 

Yuffie shrieked at him, "Fight those creatures? Aren't they under YOUR control!?" But even as she was protesting, she was busily slicing away at tentacles that were trying to grab her. 

Sephiroth glared at the ninja girl. "What makes you think I have anything to do with them?" 

By this time, Red, Cait Sith, Vincent, and the Turks had already decided on their course of action. They were busily doing their best to drive back the apparently endless stream of monsters who were determined to force their way into the laboratory. With Tifa fully occupied with her attempts to keep Cloud from bleeding to death, that left Barret, Yuffie, Cid, and Scarlet to worry about Sephiroth. 

Yuffie tightened her grip on Conformer and yelled, "Past history, maybe? Who else pulls crap like this!?" 

Sephiroth snapped, "I don't know what you're babbling about, but I suggest you worry about getting rid of those beasts first." 

Cid tightened his grip on Venus Gospel and shouted, "And you expect us to trust you behind our backs!? Like hell!" 

"I could say the same thing. I may also point out that YOU were the ones screaming for my blood, not the other way around," Sephiroth retorted sharply. 

Elena gasped out, "Hey, you guys, we could really use some help here! Rude, watch your left! Damn it!" She ejected an empty clip from her pistol and slammed in another one just in time to blow the head off some bizarre snake creature. 

"Argh!" Barret gave Sephiroth a final, furious glare before turning to add his firepower to the fray. 

Despite the added presence of the Turks, Red and the others were barely holding their own in face of the sheer number of attackers. Wave after wave of monsters clawed, hopped, or slithered over the corpses of their predecessors in a blind frenzy to reach their prey. But a greater threat developed as the creatures began to rip at the reinforced doorway to the lab. 

(Shit! If they manage to enlarge that opening, they'll swamp us for sure!), thought the pilot. 

Cid smacked himself on the head and resigned himself to dealing with the more immediate, if not lesser, evil. He turned to Sephiroth, "You don't do a damn thing. If you so much as twitch, we'll take you apart! Got it?" 

Sephiroth's only response was a faint smirk accompanied by an arrogant shrug. 

"Yuffie, don't take your eyes off him! And make sure Scarlet doesn't get any weird ideas!" 

"Highwind, you jerk!" huffed the former director of Shinra's weapon division. 

"You just watch your own butt, old man!" the ninja girl snapped. 

"Screw you, brat!" the pilot muttered as he turned to help his other friends. 

--------------------------- 

Red distastefully shook the slimy gore from his mane and considered their choices. In the tight confines of the building's interior, their offensive options were limited. And even if they didn't have to worry about getting caught in the backlash of a spell or summoning, they would probably lose what little structural protection they had. No, they had to use physical firepower and lower level magicks to force the creatures back... THEN they could unleash their more potent attacks. 

As he paused to catch his breath, Red glanced back at Sephiroth, who stood on the platform at the rear of the lab, Masamune still in hand and still stark naked. He look almost bored, but Red was certain the ex-Shinra general was not missing a single detail of the ensuing battle. 

(He's not just watching the monsters, but he's also observing us. He's analyzing our fighting styles... identifying our strengths and weaknesses. We can't afford to underestimate Sephiroth's combat and tactical skill.) 

(And despite our numbers, we're at a disadvantage. We HAVE to win. On the other hand, Sephiroth merely has to avoid actual defeat. If he escapes, we still lose.) 

The beast frowned. (But will it come to mortal combat? Somehow, I don't think so. This isn't the same Sephiroth we confronted before....) 

At every previous encounter, Sephiroth's presence had felt repulsive and overwhelmingly wrong to Red, almost like the lingering stench of a rotting corpse. But the impression he got from this particular silver-haired man was very, very different. Unlike the sickening, unclean sensations of before, this Sephiroth reminded Red of a mountain stream -- almost brutally cold, tremendously powerful, and yet somehow... clean. 

--------------------------- 

Elena was gasping for breath when Reno finally pulled her out of the front-lines. The female Turk was too tired to protest as Cait Sith and his Mog took her place. 

"Where are... all these... things coming from!?" 

Reno shrugged as he kept a wary eye for stray monsters. "Who knows? Hojo's probably got a cute little factory that's been chugging out the friggin' things for god knows how long." 

"I meant to ask you... are you okay? I mean, Hojo didn't...." Elena's voice trailed off and she made a vague gesture as she gave Reno a worried look. 

"No, he didn't do anything to me." The red-head gave her a twisted grin. "Not for lack of interest, though. He came fucking close to turning me into one of his damn experiments. Fortunately, Hojo had more important things on that half-baked brain of his. And after he grabbed Cloud...." He shrugged. 

Tifa had just finished healing Cloud's physical injuries and clearing up the residual damage from Hojo's poisonous gas. Hearing Reno's comments, she turned and called out, "Well, I've done what I can for him. But it's the stuff I can't see that really worries me. Reno, what happened to Cloud after he was brought here?" 

An oddly hesitant look appeared on Reno's face. 

"Well... I...." 

Before Tifa could press the Turk for answers, a sudden yell from Rude caused Reno to dash off to his friend's aid. Tifa was forced to settle for glaring furiously at Sephiroth, who calmly watched the battle, apparently oblivious to the fact that he had his sword and nothing else. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-9: SURVEYING THE TERRAIN  
------------------------------------------------------ 

As he carefully watched the ongoing fight, Sephiroth also took the opportunity to identify and sort out the combatants. To his surprise, he realized that he recognized a fair number of them. He had instantly identified Scarlet, along with Reno and Rude of the Turks. The blond woman in the blue suit was most likely a Turk as well. It took him a moment or two to identify the man expertly wielding that shimmering, oversized spear as Captain Highwind. 

Sephiroth's eyes focused on the 'XIII' tattoo on the red beast's flank. The marking was all too familiar. He had seen similar tattoos on Hojo's other experimental subjects. And from what he observed, the creature was obviously sentient. In fact, it spoke and behaved more intelligently than some of the other members in the party. 

He then allowed his gaze to drift toward the Wutai girl who was watching his every move. Something about her face was familiar, but he was quite sure he had never actually met the young girl before. 

Sephiroth knew or recognized many of them, but there were also others who were completely unfamiliar to him -- the large black man with the gun grafted on his hand, the dark man in the reddish cape and the disturbing aura, the ridiculous looking little cat on top of an blatantly artificial stuffed Mog.... 

It was a motley, oddly assorted group. The pieces didn't quite seem to fit together. Scarlet, the Turks, and Highwind were all Shinra personnel, but they were clearly not working together. In fact, the Turks and Highwind were nearly as suspicious of Scarlet as they were of him. And there was something else that united this strange crew. 

They feared and/or hated him. 

It was nothing new. He was used to it. It was just another thing to be noted and put aside... but not forgotten. 

Never forgotten. 

However, the sheer intensity of fear and loathing WAS unusual. And the most intense feeling came from the young, dark-haired woman hovering over Strife. 

That was another troubling puzzle. 

(He's matured. I remember him as a teenager, but now he's a young man. And as for her....) Sephiroth remembered seeing the picture of a dark-haired teenage girl in the briefing file for the Nibelheim mission. But just like Strife, Tifa Lockheart was now a young adult, probably in her early twenties. 

(If these two people ARE Strife and Lockheart, then at least five years have elapsed since my last clear memory.) He could think of several possible explanations, most of them disturbing and nearly all of them involving Hojo in some highly unpleasant manner. 

Sephiroth turned his attention to a more solvable problem -- clothes. After years of playing lab rat, he had lost most of his body-shyness. However, he certainly didn't enjoy being naked -- people always assumed that a naked person was weak and vulnerable, even if it wasn't true. Coolly ignoring Yuffie, Sephiroth quickly looked around, then headed for a familiar-looking pile of black clothes sitting on a nearby counter. 

"Where the hell do you think you're going!?" she yelled. 

"I'm going to find something to wear." He calmly stared at her. "Do you have a problem with that?" 

Yuffie took a quick look around, but all her friends were busy either fighting or healing themselves. Scarlet was busy typing something at a computer workstation. 

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and said, "Well?" 

The ninja girl snarled, "Fine. You do that. Just watch yourself. One wrong move and you're toast!" She neatly flipped Conformer and brought it up to a ready position. 

Sephiroth didn't make the mistake of underestimating the Wutai girl. She might have been young and cocky, but the easy, confident way she handled her weapon told him that she was an expert fighter. The large number of materia slots on the over-sized throwing star also told him that it was no ordinary weapon. 

Somehow it didn't surprise him in the least to realize that the clothes on the counter were a perfect fit. Black pants, gloves, boots, trenchcoat, shoulder armor... the whole ensemble. As he slipped it on, an old memory resurfaced.... 

--------------- 

In the rattling troop carrier as it slowly drove through the mountains to Nibelheim, Sephiroth watched Zack doing a steady series of squats. One of the troopers was sullenly hunched in his seat, looking nauseated and ill. 

(My instincts were right. Strife's turned out to be nothing but trouble. And he gets motion-sick as well. Useless fool.) 

Turning back to Zack, he said, "How's the leg?" 

"It's fine. Just a little tight from all that sitting." 

"Maybe you should have listened to Savois and remained in Midgar for some more observation." 

"I don't know why. The wound wasn't that bad," Zack cheerily replied. 

"She informed me that the creature that bit you was probably highly venomous, especially after its exposure to Mako." 

With a casual shrug, Zack said, "I'm feeling okay." He then glanced at Sephiroth. "You don't like her much, do you?" 

"No, I don't. But she's very good at her job. That's all I care about." He didn't have to say that the distaste was mutual. Zack was too sharp not to notice that. 

His friend grinned. "She can be quite charming once you get her out of the lab." 

"If you say so. I'm not particularly interested in finding out for myself." 

Zack was about to reply when a loud bang rocked the truck. 

--------------- 

Sephiroth's thoughts may have been racing, but no sign of uncertainty or confusion appeared on his face. He could not afford to show the slightest weakness in the eyes of these obviously hostile people. He was fairly certain that he could handle them in groups of three or four, but not all of them at once. And he had no doubts that they would gang up on him at the slightest provocation. 

He noted that the Turks were fighting with their usual competence, then his gaze moved on to the other members of the group. They might have been an odd assortment, but they were good. Very good. Not only were powerful and experienced, but like the Turks, they knew how to fight together, how to compensate for individual weak points, and make the most of their strong points. 

He frowned slightly. Highwind appeared to be the nominal leader. The pilot undoubtedly had leadership ability of a rough sort, but the way this group fought together had an oddly well-honed edge to it. Someone with experience had taken the time and effort to forge these people into an unified team. 

At that moment, he would have given a great deal for Zack's supportive presence. Someone to watch his back.... That led Sephiroth's thoughts back to the troublesome question that he had been avoiding. 

Where was Zack? 

His friend was alive. He sensed that with absolute certainty, just as he knew that he was holding the real Masamune. It was said that good leaders had a certain 'feel' for their men. He had never known what that had meant until he met Zack. And in the years that followed, he had come to rely on his friend's steady and reliable presence. 

But there was also something very wrong. The 'feeling' he got from Zack was strangely weak. It was muddled, unclear... tainted, almost. Even worse, Sephiroth had absolutely no idea about Zack's current physical condition or location. That was unusual, but he wasn't sure whether the problem was with him or with Zack. 

Compounding Sephiroth's uneasiness was the feeling that his body was somehow too small for him. It was an awkward 'fit', like a new uniform never before worn. His body worked perfectly, but it didn't feel quite comfortable... The sensation was fading, but it was just another disturbing thing among all the others confronting him. 

Sephiroth glanced back to Strife. Strife was the key. He had a great many questions and it was clear that Strife had at least some of the answers. He would get his answers out of the young man, one way or another. 

The little information Sephiroth had on Cloud Strife did not impress him. He could tolerate a certain degree of arrogance and attitude in talented subordinates, but Strife's performance could only be categorized as barely adequate at best. Personally, Sephiroth would have bounced that teenager out of Shinra and back into the slums long ago, but the regular army was apparently less discriminating. 

(So when and how did a bumbler like Cloud Strife manage to become a SOLDIER? And what is he doing with Zack's gear?) 

The uncanny similarity in Cloud's current style of dress and Zack's did not escape Sephiroth's notice, either. 

--------------------------- 

Tifa shivered and edged protectively closer to Cloud when she noticed Sephiroth's intense gaze lingering on the unconscious man protectively cradled in her arms. 

(What the hell does he want now? What is Sephiroth up to?) 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-10: BRIEF RESPITE   
------------------------------------------------------ 

They gradually managed to force Hojo's army away from the lab and down the hallway. It wasn't easy. They sweated and bled for every foot of distance they gained. 

As they pushed the creatures back to the intersection at the end of the hall, Red readied himself. He had to time the spell perfectly or risk toasting his comrades. 

"NOW!" he roared. Everyone dove for cover. 

There was a flash of incandescent green and the whole building shook as the Ultima spell roared through the hallways, followed by the rumble of cascading rubble. 

His sensitive ears ringing from the confined explosion, Red shrugged off a fallen light fixture and took a cautious peek into the ruins of the hallway. 

Cid crawled out from under a counter and muttered, "Well, did it work?" 

"I think so. Even if it doesn't stop them permanently, we've bought ourselves some time." 

"Gotcha. Yo, Scarlet, get your butt over here!" 

She gave Cid an infuriated glare, but she didn't argue. Being an extremely practical woman -- especially when her own survival was concerned -- Scarlet knew this wasn't the time to start a fight with her rescuers. But when they got out of this hellish mess though.... 

(Just you wait, Highwind!) 

As everyone dusted themselves off, they turned to deal with their other big problem. 

Sephiroth. 

--------------------------- 

The sound of the bone-jarring explosion apparently was enough to bring Cloud back to consciousness. As he slowly opened his eyes, Tifa held her breath. For a long moment, he stared blankly at her. She then nearly cried in sheer relief as she saw recognition dawning in those beautiful, sky blue eyes of his. 

(He... he seems to be okay!) 

But a nasty voice in the back of Tifa's head snidely wondered whether she had any way of knowing IF there was something wrong with him or not. After all, hadn't Sephiroth manipulated Cloud like a puppet right under her nose? She hadn't noticed then. 

Why should she notice now? 

(No. If I believe that, then Sephiroth's already won.) 

She shoved those thoughts aside and gave Cloud a shaky smile. 

--------------------------- 

As he slowly awoke, Cloud gradually realized that he was feeling better than he had in a very long time. The searing pain that he had endured was finally gone. And in a weird way, his mind was both clearer AND more muddled than he could ever remember. 

Feeling a pair of arms gently supporting him, he looked up into the face of a beautiful, dark-haired woman. She stared down at him, her eyes glittering brightly. For a brief instant, a variety of fierce, contradictory emotions sloshed wildly around in his brain before subsiding. 

"Cloud?" 

"Tifa...?" he whispered. 

"Are you... are you okay?" She gazed into his eyes as if searching for something. 

With a sigh of relief, he murmured, "Yeah." 

Cloud suddenly felt Tifa's arms tighten around him. As her shoulders shook, she whispered harshly, "God, I thought.... When Hojo grabbed you.... I'm so sorry...." 

Cloud blinked in bewilderment at Tifa's sudden and quite uncharacteristic display of emotion, then said in a soothing voice, "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine. Really I am." 

"Are you sure, Cloud?" 

A faint grin flashed across his face. "Well... I can truthfully say that I'm feeling better than I was before." 

She gave him a weak smile in return. 

"I'm so sorry...." 

He stared up at her in confusion. "Sorry about what?" 

"Sorry about... about fighting you.... about not trusting you.... If I hadn't been...." 

Cloud shook his head and said firmly, "Tifa, it's not your fault. Hojo's creatures' probably would have caught us no matter what. His creatures had probably been following us around for the last several days, just waiting for the right moment to ambush us. And it was partially my fault for not noticing sooner. I'm just glad I managed to get you out of the way." 

Before the conversation could continue, a cold, sharp man's voice made Cloud sit bolt upright. 

"No...," he whispered. "Damn it, I didn't manage to...." Cloud glanced quickly at Tifa. "What's going on? What's HE still doing here?" 

Tifa glared across the room at Sephiroth. "We got to the lab just in time to see you pass out practically at Sephiroth's feet. While we were trying to figure out how to get you out of the way, a horde of Hojo's monsters attacked us from behind." 

Cloud grimaced and he involuntarily rubbed at his stomach at the reminder. 

"I can't believe I was carrying around a piece of him all this time...," he whispered in a distant voice. 

Tifa nodded grimly. "Yeah. Our best guess is that Dr. Roissy was just using you as a temporary hiding place, but then you and Zack escaped...." 

Cloud flinched slightly at the mention of Zack's name. Tifa squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and continued, "There were so many monsters, we couldn't spare anyone to finish off Sephiroth as well. We managed to drive the creatures back, then Red blasted the hallway down on their heads. But the rubble won't keep them back forever." 

She scowled angrily as she watched Cid and the others confronting Sephiroth. "I don't know why they're even bothering to talk to him. He's a monster. We should be getting rid of him while we still have the chance! There's no way we can trust him!" 

Cloud stared at Sephiroth with tense concentration, then he murmured, "We may not have a choice." 

"What!?" Tifa reared back and stared at him anxiously. "Cloud, are you sure you're feeling...." 

He gave her a grim look. "Our problems have only just started. Resurrecting Sephiroth was only one part of Hojo's grand scheme. And if he has as much success as he did in reconstructing Sephiroth, we're in really serious trouble." As Tifa opened her mouth, Cloud shook his head and slowly pulled himself to his feet. "I'll explain later." 

Cloud glanced at the tall, silver-haired man coolly facing down his friends and couldn't suppress a shiver. It wasn't exactly fear, but rather a complex tangle of emotions that he couldn't begin to understand. It took every bit of discipline and control that he had learned in SOLDIER, but he managed to shove all his worries and uncertainties aside -- for the moment. He would have to deal with Sephiroth and his own feelings later when there was time. 

(Hold it.... Learned in SOLDIER? Damn it! There I go again. I was never in SOLDIER. It was Zack who was the SOLDIER, first class. Not me....) 

Cloud shook his head slightly. He couldn't afford to let his attention wander. Right now, his other friends needed him and he wasn't about to fail them. No matter what his 'feelings' toward Sephiroth were, he would not betray his friends... not like before. No, this time, he would do everything it took to get them all out of this mess. And if that meant working with Sephiroth, that's what he'd do. 

Tifa stepped next to Cloud. "Are you... all right? You've really taken a beating and you're not nearly a hundred percent...." Her voice trailed off uncertainly. 

Cloud closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead wearily. "Tifa, right now, I'm focusing on just getting all of us out of this situation. If I'm going to have a nervous breakdown, I'll have it AFTERwards." 

Tifa did not look the least bit reassured by Cloud's words, as he took a deep breath and headed toward his nemesis. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-11: RENEWED ACQUAINTANCES   
------------------------------------------------------ 

When he noticed that Sephiroth was now dressed in his familiar black clothing, Barret bellowed at Yuffie, "Girl, you were supposed to watch him!" 

"I was, you jerk! You said to make sure he didn't go anything suspicious, okay? All he did was get dressed." She stuck out her tongue at the big black man. 

Reno sarcastically muttered, "I'm surprised you let him cover himself up. After all, you could barely peel your eyes off of MY butt." 

Yuffie shuddered and yelled, "Ewww! That's completely different, Reno! At least you're human!" 

Red flicked a glance at Sephiroth. Aside from merely raising a pale eyebrow, the ex-general did not react visibly to Yuffie's words. However, the beast thought that it wasn't exactly the most tactful thing for Yuffie to say at the moment. Comments like that could only make Sephiroth feel even more emotionally isolated than he already was. 

(If my instincts are right, we have an opportunity here to resolve a major problem without fighting. Or is that just wistful thinking on my part? Perhaps, but we certainly don't need to alienate him more than necessary.) 

--------------------------- 

As he stared at their OTHER enemy, Cid chewed on the remnants of his cigarette and muttered, "Now what the hell do we do with you?" 

"And what makes you think that it's your decision?" Sephiroth coolly retorted. 

"Oh... I'd say that odds of eleven to one might have something to do with it, bucko." 

Sephiroth didn't seem the least bit impressed. 

Without taking his eyes of the black-clad man in front of him, the pilot called out, "Hey Tifa, how the hell is the kid doing?" 

"Why don't you ask me yourself?" a familiar voice said behind them. 

"Cloud!" exclaimed everyone. 

He gave them a lopsided grin as they all spun around to stare at him with a mixture of surprise and relief. 

With his usual bluntness, Barret muttered, "Well, he looks okay, anyway." 

As Cloud approached, Red was fascinated by what he saw in his friend's eyes. Suspicion... yes. Tension... yes. But there was a curious lack of hatred or anger. Unlike Tifa, Cloud didn't seem ready to tear his archenemy limb from limb. 

Sephiroth gave Cloud a cool stare, then said, "Strife...." 

Cloud's glowing blue eyes abruptly narrowed as he snapped, "Don't call me that. The name's Cloud." His voice was low, almost angry. 

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the harsh words. In a sardonic voice he said, "That's quite an attitude change for you. You were extremely insistent that everyone call you 'Strife' when we last met." 

"When we last met....?" Cloud replied, his look of suspicion intensifying. 

Sephiroth smiled coldly. "On the truck to Nibelheim. Or have you forgotten? If you hadn't become hopelessly motion-sick, you would have ended up in a brawl with the other troopers simply because they refused to call you by your last name." 

Cloud's face went strangely still and distant, as if searching for elusive memories, then he spoke in a soft, almost empty voice. 

"I was a different person back then." 

Red watched Cait Sith shudder faintly and wondered why Cloud's words should bother the little cat -- or rather, why they should bother Reeve so much. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-12: REEVE'S INTERLUDE: ALTERED EGOS   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Knowing what he did about Cloud's early days as a Shinra trooper and the circumstances of Zack's death, Reeve had plenty to be bothered about. The entire conversation between Sephiroth and Cloud was like waltzing in a mine field -- one never knew when a few simple words would end up blowing up in everyone's faces. 

Over the past few days, Reeve had become absolutely convinced that Sephiroth and Zack had been closer than anyone had ever suspected. It wasn't obvious -- that wasn't Sephiroth's style -- but there were definite clues if one knew what to look for. Just how close the two men were remained to be seen and Reeve didn't feel like tackling THAT particular issue yet. However, it was clear -- to Reeve, at least -- that the two men had been the best of friends. Despite Sephiroth's ice cold demeanor, something told Reeve that there would be hell to pay if he ever found out that Cloud was in all likelihood Zack's murderer. The fact that Cloud had been totally insane at the time would be absolutely irrelevant. 

(Didn't Cloud say, 'I was a different person back then'? Oh yes, no truer words were ever spoken, my friend.) 

That single statement -- so innocuous on its surface -- took on a whole new depth of meaning if one knew the real facts of Cloud's past. At first Reeve had simply thought that guilt had caused Cloud to blot out the memories of killing his friend Zack. Amnesia about traumatic events wasn't at all uncommon. But the more he thought about it, the more likely it appeared that Cloud taken a much more drastic course of action in an attempt to utterly disassociate himself from Zack's death. 

It wasn't a matter of simply losing or suppressing a few memories... it involved assuming a different name... manifesting a different personality... anything that could distinguish this person now called Cloud from the tormented young man who had committed an apparently unforgivable crime. In the end, only the physical body had remained the same. 

Reeve had the vaguest recollection of his college psychology courses, but he remembered his professor saying that the human mind could delude itself into believing practically anything in order to survive. 

(Were your memories so unbearable that you had to completely remake yourself, Cloud? Was that the only way you could find to live with yourself?) 

And if one added in the notorious side-effects of intensive Mako exposure, implantation of Jenova cells, and years of Hojo's torturous experiments.... 

Back in the relative safety of Midgar, Reeve shivered. Not because he couldn't understand the terrible possibilities opening up before him like a bottomless pit, but rather because he could understand those impulses all too well. 

It was disturbingly easy for Reeve to sympathize with Cloud. He was doing the same sort of thing with Cait Sith -- becoming a different person, someone he considered much more likable. The only real difference between him and Cloud was in the matter of degree. Maybe that's why he had always felt a particular sort of empathy with Cloud. Although he never mentioned it to his friends, Reeve was haunted by his own share of unforgivable actions. 

Or in his case, it had been the lack of action. 

Sector 7 had simply been the final straw which broke the chocobo's back. 

But his theories were just that... only theories mixed with a hefty dose of guesswork and conjecture. He needed to talk to an expert to be certain, but who could possibly.... Reeve shook his head and grimaced. There was only two people still alive who has any real expertise with the effects of Jenova and Mako exposure. And Hojo was definitely out of the question. 

(The next free moment I have, I need to have a long and very thorough talk with Dr. Savois). 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-13: CHANGES IN PERSPECTIVE   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Sephiroth stared at Cloud for a long moment, then cocked his head slightly. 

(Different.... Yes, I'm beginning to see that, Strife....) 

There was a long silence, then Cloud slowly said, "You don't remember what happened in Nibelheim." From his tone, it wasn't a question. 

"The Nibelheim mission...." Although his face showed no particular emotion, the way Cloud mentioned Nibelheim made Sephiroth's guts knot in dread. 

"Yes... Nibelheim. You were there. I was there. And Zack...." Cloud's voice trailed off. 

"And Zack was there," said Sephiroth, finishing off Cloud's sentence. 

Cloud looked away. "Yes... Zack was there, too." 

"Because where Sephiroth goes, his shadow naturally follows," said Yuffie in an oddly somber voice. 

Cloud froze and went very pale. Everyone else turned to stare at the ninja girl. 

--------------------------- 

As he listened to Yuffie's words -- words that seemed filled with ominous double or even triple meanings -- Cid felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced quickly at Barret and could see the same unnerved reaction in the black man's eyes. Both of them remembered all too well their conversation long ago outside the clinic at Mideel. 

The pilot thought, (Isn't that what Barret said about Cloud when we first found him in Mideel? Sephiroth's shadow? How the hell does Zack fit into this 'shadow' business?) 

--------------------------- 

As everyone looked at the ninja girl in astonishment, Sephiroth glared at her and asked sharply, "Who are you?" 

Yuffie tossed her head and replied in a curiously dignified way. 

"Yuffie Kisaragi." 

She stared up at the silver-haired man who had brought the millennia-old warrior tradition of Wutai to its knees. She fully expected to hate his guts for what he had done to her father, her nation, and her friends... but she didn't. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but the closest description would be a sort of wary respect. 

(I guess I picked up more of Dad's lectures on honor and 'the warrior's code' than I thought.) 

It was so strange. Sephiroth had never had this sort of effect on her before, back when they had been trying to stop him from destroying the world. Then again, Sephiroth had been a raving lunatic at the time. So in a way, it made perfect sense. This was the first time she had really met the person who masterminded the conquest of Wutai. And say what you might about Sephiroth, but there was no denying that he was a military genius and a kick-ass fighter. 

After a brief pause, Sephiroth said quietly, "Godo's daughter and heir." 

She nodded curtly, then said, "The old-timers on Wutai still tell stories about you." 

--------------------------- 

The odd conversation between Yuffie and Sephiroth might have continued further, but Tifa broke the mood by hissing furiously, "So you're saying that you don't remember anything that's happened in the six years since your mission to Nibelheim? My, isn't THAT convenient? You conniving bastard! I have a mind to...." 

Sephiroth gave her a chilling stare. "To do what, Lockheart? Kill me? You seem to have conveniently forgotten that if I hadn't put up that barrier spell when I did, those monsters would have probably torn a few of your friends into shreds." 

"Like hell!" an infuriated Barret roared. 

But even as the large black man began ranting and raving, Sephiroth's thoughts were racing. 

(Six years? Six YEARS!? How can that be?) He had deduced as much on his own based on the changed appearance of Strife, Lockheart, and the Yuffie girl, but to hear it spoken aloud.... 

--------------------------- 

Cid leaned over to Yuffie and muttered, "What's all that crap about 'Sephiroth's shadow'?" 

Caught up in her own thoughts, she jumped, then muttered back, "It's what they called...." 

"Him. Zack, I mean," Cait Sith said, poking his nose into the conversation. 

"Say what?" said Cid. 

Yuffie stared at the pilot impatiently. "That's was Zack's nickname with the other SOLDIERs. They called him 'Sephiroth's Shadow'. You know, because when Sephiroth was around, Zack was always with him, lurking inconspicuously in the background. Not to mention the dark hair. You know, light and dark... Sephiroth and Zack... that sort of thing?" 

Red grumbled pensively, "Fascinating." 

Cid muttered, "That's NOT what I would call it. I'd call it pretty damn creepy." 

Almost as one, they all slowly straightened up and turned to stare at Cloud, who stoically watched Tifa and Barret as they yelled furiously at an indifferent Sephiroth. 

--------------------------- 

After the Turks eavesdropped on the whispered conversation between Yuffie, Cid, and the others, Elena took the opportunity to ask Reno a troubling question. 

"Reno, why didn't you want to tell Tifa what happened with Cloud?" 

The female Turk was startled to see Reno's expression tighten. 

"What's wrong?" she blurted. 

Reno was surprisingly reluctant to answer. "I... He started hallucinating from that stuff Hojo used on him." His voice ground to a momentary halt. "At least... I hope he was just delirious and imagining stuff instead of remembering things that actually happened." 

As Elena and Rude stared at him in confusion, Reno ran his hands through his bedraggled hair and muttered, "Aw hell, what am I saying?" 

Taking a deep breath, he continued, "Well, it seems that Cloud and Hojo have some past history. Really ugly history. From what I could pick out, several years ago, Hojo used Cloud for some of his wacko experiments and basically totally fucked up his head. I had to listen to Cloud scream about all this crap for hours and THAT was bad enough. I don't even want to even think about how bad actually living through all that shit must have been like. I can't help feeling sorry for him. I wouldn't wish that sort of nightmare on my worst enemy." 

Elena barely managed to control her facial expression as she mentally babbled to herself, (Oh god. How are we supposed to tell him that... that his own sister... his TWIN sister... that Hojo probably....) 

Unnoticed by the distracted Reno, Elena gave Rude a frantic look. The bald Turk maintained his usual silence, but couldn't help wincing. 

--------------------------- 

Cloud stood off to the side as he watched Tifa and Barret blow off some emotional steam. He felt no impulse to join in the fray. It wasn't because of an absence of emotion, but rather there was too much emotion... feelings that seemed to pull him in a dozen directions at once. 

(I should hate him. I have every reason to hate him. I DO hate him. But I don't.... What the hell's wrong with me?) He couldn't help wondering whether Sephiroth was playing around with his head again. 

But as soon as Tifa took a threatening step toward Sephiroth, Cloud stepped in and caught her arm. She stared at him and protested, "You can't possibly believe that crap about Sephiroth not remembering all those horrible things he's done to me, you, and the whole Planet." She hesitated an instant, then plunged on. "And don't tell me you've forgotten what he did to Aeris!?" 

The brief flash of old pain in Cloud's eyes told her that he had most definitely NOT forgotten about Aeris. 

As he searched for a way to explain the difference he sensed in Sephiroth, Red unexpectedly came to Cloud's rescue by quietly saying, "None of us have forgotten, Tifa. But I don't think we're facing our old enemy... not yet, at least." 

"What are you talking about!?" 

In gentle but firm tones, Red stared up at the angry young woman and said, "Can't you feel it? There's something different about this man...." The red beast tipped his head in Sephiroth's direction. 

Yuffie nervously tossed Conformer from hand to hand as she said uneasily, "The vibes aren't the same, if that's what you mean, Red." 

The beast nodded approvingly. "That's very well put, Yuffie." His one-eyed gaze raked over Scarlet, Cait Sith, and the Turks. "I'd appreciate your input. You would have known him best from before Nibelheim. Scarlet?" 

"He certainly acts like the Sephiroth I knew," she said with a sour twist to her painted lips. "An arrogant, cold-blooded bastard, but definitely a sane one." 

Sephiroth gave her a slight mocking bow in return. 

Cait Sith adjusted his hat with a paw and nodded slowly. Reno and Rude exchanged quick looks before Reno said, "Hell, it's not like we really knew him or anything, but he sounds like he's got his head screwed on pretty straight." 

(Especially compared to a certain other person I could mention...,) the red-haired Turk mentally added without looking at Cloud. 

As Elena opened her mouth, Reno gave her a sharp glance and said flatly, "And no, I haven't forgotten what happened to Tseng." 

Barret snarled, "Like the words of some Shinra goons are supposed to convince me that everything's all hunky-dory?" 

Red shook his head. "Tifa, Barret, I fully understand your concerns, but we cannot afford to waste our energy and resources on what promises to be a very costly, but unnecessary battle. Don't forget that Hojo and his army is still out there, waiting for us." 

Tifa inhaled and exhaled slowly as she fought to maintain her self-control. Giving way to her impulse to scream in sheer frustration wouldn't help her convince anyone of the danger she was sure Sephiroth represented. 

When she was sure she could speak with reasonable calm, she said, "I know that, Red. Maybe you and Yuffie are right. I'm not saying that you are, but let's assume that you are. We still can't trust him!" 

Red blinked and settled back on his haunches. "I never said anything about trusting him, Tifa. But it might be possible to come to some sort of workable arrangement. An armed truce, you might say." 

--------------------------- 

Cloud listened tensely as his friends and allies debated how to deal with Sephiroth, but remained silent. 

(He's... he's different. Somehow, I know that. But will they believe me? SHOULD they believe me? No. Best to let them come to their own conclusions.) 

It seemed to be the most reasonable course of action for him, but Cloud couldn't help feeling that he was also taking the easy way out. 

/ That's right.   


/ You're really good at ducking responsibility....  


/ Leaving someone else to do your dirty work....  


/ ....aren't you? / 

/ Someone like me.... / 

Deep down inside, Cloud wondered what he would do if his friends decided to turn on Sephiroth. 

/ Yes yes yes! /  


/ Kill the fucking bastard! / 

(I should be glad to get rid of the monster....) 

// He's no monster. // 

But Cloud had a sickening feeling that he wouldn't be happy at all. 

--------------------------- 

Cid rubbed the back of his neck and scowled as everyone turned to stare at him. They clearly expected him to make the final decision. He glanced irritably at Cloud who met the pilot's gaze for only a brief instant. 

(Why the hell are they looking at me for!) 

But Cid knew why. With Sephiroth involved, Cloud's judgment was in serious question and Cloud knew that better than anyone. It was no surprise that Cloud had decided to keep his mouth shut while he let his teammates come to their own decision. 

"Aw, crap...," the pilot muttered. 

Red was making a lot of sense. This Sephiroth was one arrogant son-of-a-bitch, but he just wasn't acting like the raving lunatic they knew and hated before. Scarlet, Reeve, and the Turks all agreed that he was acting normally enough. Cid didn't have any doubts that they could take out Sephiroth if they had to, but even with odds like eleven-to-one -- twelve-to-one if he counted Scarlet -- it wouldn't be a cheap victory. 

And then there was Hojo and his pets still slithering around.... 

The pilot glanced at Vincent who had been characteristically quiet during this whole argument. But the dark man remained silent as he watched Sephiroth with a frightening intensity that missed nothing. 

(I wonder.... What is Vince seeing? What is he looking for? Traces of Lucrecia? Or is he looking for traces of Hojo?) 

The pilot could tell from Tifa's tight, angry expression that she wasn't buying any of their arguments. That was no surprise. Sephiroth had killed her father, toasted her hometown, and caused her no end of misery. She would hate Sephiroth's guts to the end of time and that was all there was to it. And Barret was being his usual stubborn, hard-assed self about the whole thing. That was only to be expected. Barret and Tifa had been friends long before the Meteor crap got started. 

But he could understand Tifa's and Barret's viewpoint. Like Tifa said, it's so damn convenient that Sephiroth's memory ended so precisely at Nibelheim. Almost TOO convenient.... He'd feel a lot better if the guy's memory was a lot more screwed up. 

(Maybe he's really doesn't remember a damn thing of massacring an entire town and trying to blow the shit out of the Planet. Or maybe he's pulling one hell of an act and he's planning on plunging that goddamn sword of his into our backs just like he did to Aeris.) 

He gave Sephiroth a dirty look. Throughout the discussion, the former Shinra general had remained silent, but Cid had no doubt that the guy was filing every scrap of information away for future reference. 

And Cloud.... Now that was the strange thing. He would've expected Cloud to be right beside Tifa yelling for Sephiroth's blood... but he wasn't. Sephiroth and Cloud were both playing the exact same waiting game, letting everyone else argue the pros and cons. Cid found that downright unnerving. 

Tifa opened her mouth to voice her objections again, but before she could say anything, Cloud finally stepped in. He said firmly, "Guys, we could go on about this forever, but we need to come to a decision NOW. Like Red said, we have other problems to worry about and we're running short on time." 

"What are you talking about?" growled Barret. 

Cloud jerked his head in the direction of the collapsed hallway. "Aside from being surrounded by Hojo's little army...." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Hojo's recovered the... um, Core." 

"The what?" said Tifa and several others. 

"The Core." 

"WHAT bloody core?" grumbled Cid. 

Cloud's eyes flicked briefly toward Sephiroth. With exquisite care, he said, "Some time ago, Hojo found the head of a certain... space alien." 

Barret blinked, then said, "Oh, you're talking about Je.... OW!!!" His words turned into a sharp yelp as Yuffie jabbed him with her weapon. He whirled around and bellowed, "Why the hell did you do that, girl!?" 

"You JERK!" the ninja girl hissed furiously, making little pointing gestures in Sephiroth's direction. 

Barret scratched his head as he muttered, "Oh... yeah. That's right." He coughed, then said with exaggerated tones, "Oh, THAT space alien." 

It wasn't the most graceful or subtle of recoveries, but it was the best any of them could do under the circumstances. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-14: INSINUATIONS   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Suddenly one of the large video monitors in the lab sprang to life. On the screen, Hojo scowled angrily and whined, "No, no, no! What the hell are you doing out of the tank already?" 

Sephiroth froze just an instant in surprise as he took in Hojo's altered appearance -- the green scaly skin, the protruding bug-eyes, the sucker mouth, and the long tentacles. But he quickly regained his composure and said coldly, "Hojo. I see your exterior at last accurately mirrors your interior." 

On the screen, the scientist gnashed his needle-like teeth and glared at Cloud. "This is all your doing, no doubt!" he hissed furiously. 

Surprisingly, Cloud did that casual little shrug of his and gave Hojo a wolfish grin. 

"You're getting sloppy in your old age, leaving me unsupervised and unrestrained like that, Hojo. Did you expect me to lie around doing nothing? After all this time, you should know me better than that," Cloud calmly retorted. It was no boast, but rather a bland statement of fact. 

His words produced two very interesting reactions. Sephiroth stiffened, then snapped his head around to stare at the young blond man standing beside him, unable to hide his astonishment. The choice of words, the tone, the body language... even that careless shrug... all those things were quintessential Zack. 

At the same time, on the monitor, Hojo twitched nervously. It took the scientist a few seconds to recover his smug composure. Turning back to Sephiroth, Hojo muttered, "So you don't remember...." 

"Remember what?" Sephiroth snapped, jerking his attention back to the monitor, even as he sensed Cloud suddenly tensing beside him. The ex-Shinra general didn't like the sly malice filling Hojo's voice. 

"About what you discovered in Nibelheim." 

Sephiroth didn't bother to reply. 

"Well, it's obvious that you don't. In that case, you're probably wondering what's happened to your good friend Zack, eh?" 

With no particular expression on his face except for cold contempt, Sephiroth said neutrally, "What about him?" 

Hojo giggled, "Why don't you ask Strife about that?" 

Before Sephiroth could respond, Cloud stepped forward. He spoke in a soft, but perfectly audible voice. 

"Don't EVER call me Strife." 

Hearing the tightly controlled anger in Cloud's voice, a sly look came over Hojo's face. 

"But that's your name...." The scientist's voice suddenly turned thoughtful. "Or is it, hmm?" 

Vincent silently stalked forward to stand on the other side of Sephiroth. The rage that hovered around the dark man like an ominous haze made even Sephiroth discreetly edge away from him. With stark simplicity, Vincent spoke to the creature who had destroyed so much in the former Turk's life. 

"You're dead, Hojo." 

The appearance of his old enemy seemed to actually boost Hojo's self-confidence. With his usual arrogance, he smirked and said, "Idle boasts, Valentine. You'll fail, just as you've always failed when you've tried to challenge me." 

"You weren't satisfied with destroying Lucrecia, were you? How many women did you murder in your attempts to create another Sephiroth?" Vincent's voice grew rougher, more animal-like with every word. 

On the screen, Hojo shrugged carelessly. "Oh, I can't remember off the top of my head. Ten? Twenty? Thanks to Gast's secrecy and sabotage, the whole experiment turned out to be a massive waste of my valuable time. Although...." He chuckled viciously. "I did come very close to success with dear Regis. What a beauty she was!" 

Elena uttered a horrified, "Eep!" as Reno abruptly stiffened. He caught a brief glimpse of the appalled looks on Elena's and Rude's faces before the Turk whirled around and angrily shoved his way past Barret and Yuffie toward the screen. 

"What did you say, asshole?" the redheaded Turk demanded in a low, furious voice. 

"Oh, that's right. Regis Donovan is your twin sister, Reno. Or should I say, WAS your twin sister." Hojo said in mock sympathy, now back in full gloating mode. 

"Don't try fucking around with me, Hojo! She died in a railroad crash in Midgar over four years ago," Reno ground out. 

"Well, she didn't die then and she didn't die there, but she's certainly dead now," the mad scientist said with a crazed little giggle. 

"WHAT DID YOU SAY???" 

Cloud interrupted sharply. "What do you want, Hojo?" 

The look of pure malice on Hojo's inhuman face sent a shiver down nearly everyone's spine. 

"Well, I had hoped to introduce Sephiroth under more controlled conditions, but due to your bumbling interference, I've had to move up my timetable somewhat. Sephiroth, are you ready to meet your mother?" 

"My... what...?" Sephiroth involuntarily retreated a step and nearly backed into Cloud. 

Hojo's mouth contorted into an even wider grin as he purred, "Your mother... Jenova." 

(Well, so much for keeping THAT little secret,) thought Yuffie. 

As Sephiroth went frighteningly still, Cloud lunged forward and shouted at the monitor, "No more of your damned lies, Hojo!" He couldn't explain the overwhelming sense of fury that seem to consume him at that moment. All he knew was he couldn't let Hojo OR Jenova win... not this time. 

"Oh, but I'm not lying...," the scientist replied smoothly. 

"Yes, you are," growled Vincent, his crimson eyes glowing. "You forget to whom you're talking to. We know you. You would do anything to accomplish your own twisted purposes. If you're not spewing forth filthy lies, you're warping the truth beyond recognition. You've always had a talent for stabbing people where it hurts the most." 

Hojo snorted. "You're pathetic, Valentine. Your pain and a few paltry lives means NOTHING when compared to the glory of the discoveries I've made!" 

"Glory? GLORY!? You corrupt and taint everything you touch!" Vincent snarled, his red eyes smoldering in fury. Metal scraped against metal as he clenched his claw into a fist. 

"One man's corruption is another man's exaltation," the scientist retorted with a mad giggle. Hojo rubbed his tentacles together with glee, then peered through the monitor at Sephiroth. 

"Jenova is the only true power. I realize that now. Come, Sephiroth. The path to divinity awaits you. All you have to do is take your rightful place by your mother's side." The scientist's voice was a twisted, paternal croon that sickened everyone who heard it. 

Sephiroth's blank expression and ominous silence had several people stealthily reaching for their weapons. 

Apparently confident that his words had struck home, Hojo turned his attention back to Cloud and the others. 

"I find it wonderfully ironic that I spent so much time and effort studying the Cetra when true power in the form of Jenova lay in my hands all along. But never fear. All that research will not be wasted...." 

Cloud glared at Hojo and snapped furiously, "Aeris and her mother weren't specimens for you to dissect as you please! They were human beings...!" 

Hojo interrupted angrily, "Human beings? Bah! YOU're a fine one to talk about human beings! The Cetra are aliens to this planet, just like Jenova. They had no greater right to be here simply because they arrived on this Planet first. The Cetra were weak and deserved to lose to the greater power! In the end, these so-called Ancients and their puny achievements will end up serving Jenova's will just as everyone on this miserable Planet. And Jenova's spawn will lead the way! Won't you, Sephiroth?" 

Almost as an afterthought, the scientist glanced at Cloud and hissed maliciously, "And you too, Strife." 

Flinging his tentacles wide like a street preacher, Hojo shouted, "The true Jenova has returned! PREPARE TO FEEL HER GLORY!" 

The screen exploded into junk as Barret sprayed the screen with gunfire. As Sephiroth whirled to glare coldly at the black man, Barret shrugged and said, "We ain't got time to listen to any more of his bullshit." 

Red thought to himself, (For all his bluntness, it is at times like this when I realize that Barret has a wisdom all his own.) 

--------------------------- 

Livid with rage, Reno stormed out of the lab and into the hallway, before whirling toward his fellow Turks who were warily trailing behind him. He hissed, "What's going on? What the fuck's Hojo talking about!?" 

A white-faced Elena said in a strangled voice, "Reno... when we were searching in Nibelheim, we found... Hojo had been doing... experiments involving injecting Jenova cells into pregnant women in order to modify... the unborn human fetuses." 

"And...?" said Reno in an ominously quiet voice. He could already guess how his sister Regis was involved, but he needed to hear it. He needed to hear someone say it aloud to make it real. 

Elena took a deep gulp of air before continuing. "His experiments were a total botch. None of the mothers or the babies survived. But Hojo kept the bodies in specimen containers to...." She simply couldn't finish and turned away, her hand clamped over her mouth. 

Rude's face was impassive as usual, except for a faint tic in his right cheek. 

"I saw her body, Reno. It was her. Regis." 

Cloud and his friends had seen Reno pissed off and in various stages of annoyance before, but at that moment, they realized that they had never seen him truly angry. It was a frightening, quiet sort of rage, simply because it was so different from his usual careless, cynical attitude. 

Elena and Rude had caught a glimpse of this sort of anger before, when Reno had found Tseng's body lying outside of the Temple of the Ancients, but that emotion had been a pale shadow of the fury they saw now in his eyes. 

Reno stood with his head bowed, his Nightstick clutched in a white-knuckled grip, then abruptly turned to face Vincent, who had silently followed them into the hallway. 

With an inquiring quirk of an eyebrow, Reno asked, "What about you?" 

In a stark voice, Vincent simply said, "Lucrecia." 

"I thought you killed Hojo at the Sister Ray," Reno drawled. 

"I did. He came back," was Vincent's equally calm retort. 

"Then I guess that I'll have to do a better job of it." 

"Not if I get to him first." 

Reno shrugged. "Why quibble over shit like Hojo? I guess we can both share in the fun." 

The red-haired Turk and the dark-haired ex-Turk stared at each other in a moment of perfect understanding as the same vicious, predatory grin appeared on their lips. 

There was a brief pause, before Vincent replied, "I can deal with that." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-15: DARKER IMPULSES   
------------------------------------------------------ 

In the aftermath of the rather traumatic conversation with Hojo, Sephiroth suddenly staggered. At the same instant, Cloud collapsed to his knees and clamped his hands to his head in a disturbingly familiar gesture. 

"What the hell...!?"  


"Cloud!"  


"Spike?"  


"Damn it!" 

As Tifa ran to Cloud's side and grabbed his shoulder, the others became aware of something repulsive and alien in the air. 

Red reflexively shook his head in a futile effort to clear the foulness from his sensitive nose, but he knew that what he sensed was no simple odor. It was actually a psychic 'stench' caused by the unholy mental energy that was now permeating the entire area. And from Sephiroth's and Cloud's reaction, there could only be one source. 

"Jenova!" snarled the beast, fighting down the urge to howl defiantly. 

--------------------------- 

His friends' frantic questions faded to a distant babble as Cloud struggled to fight off the mental onslaught. Instead of the brutal, crushing force he vaguely remembered encountering before, this assault was much more subtle... a soft, coaxing alien voice that he couldn't shut out or ignore.... 

It whispered terrible things to him... dark, hissing promises of power and dominion. All he had to do was surrender himself to Jenova -- body, mind, and soul. It would be so easy.... 

A part of him jumped at the offer... the chance for revenge... the chance to show everyone just what sort of person he really was... the chance to make them all sorry for crossing him.... 

The first to go would be that stupid bitch grabbing at his arm.... 

(No, damn it! Get out of my head!) 

The alien voice whispered more sinister promises as ugly, dirty images fluttered through his battered brain. 

(Stop it! I won't listen to you again! Never again!) 

Then another voice joined in... but this voice didn't come from the outside. 

It came from somewhere deep inside of HIM. 

/ Yes! You know it's true!   


/ They laugh at you.   


/ They hate you.   


/ They hurt you.   


/ They all deserve to die.... / 

(No! That never happened! They're my friends, damn it! They care about me! You're twisting things around, just like before! You made me... you made me kill....) 

/ You enjoyed it! / 

(Shut up!) 

The two voices -- Jenova's alien voice from the outside and the dark, inner voice from within -- hammered at him like some demented choir hell-bent on driving him inexorably toward the bottomless abyss of insanity. 

As the voices clawed at his mind, exposing unexpected weak points, something in Cloud finally stirred and roared, (ENOUGH!) as something within him refused to be manipulated any further. Like a drowning man, he grabbed for that steely resolve, using it as one might wield a sword to slash through the maddening babble in his head. A sudden calm washed over Cloud's mind, driving the malignant voices far away. 

// Not this time, Jenova. // 

// I know your tricks now. // 

--------------------------- 

It had been easy for Sephiroth to dismiss Hojo's ravings. He had long since stopped believing anything the scientist told him, except with a hefty dose of collaborating evidence. The bastard had lied to him too many times. More importantly, Sephiroth knew from painful personal experience how much Hojo enjoyed manipulating people with a carefully calculated mixture of lies and half-truths. 

The fool had obviously gone stark raving mad, but the scientist's comments of someone called Jenova being his mother had still given Sephiroth a nasty jolt. And before he could quite recover, there was something even more disturbing for him to deal with. 

Yes, it was easy to ignore Hojo, but Sephiroth found it impossible to ignore the strange voice that now slithered into his mind. The words were almost exactly the same as Hojo's, but this time the talk of godhood, destiny, and power stirred something deep inside Sephiroth. 

It made a perverse, seductive sort of sense. It made all the differences that separated and isolated him from every other person in this world understandable.... The loneliness and alienation that constantly haunted him would have meaning and purpose. 

The hatred... the constant suspicion... the hidden and blatant fear in everyone's eyes.... He wouldn't have to think about those things anymore. They wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. 

Gods don't feel pain. 

It would be so easy.... 

All he would have to do is let go and believe.... 

Under Jenova's insidious assault, the barrier locking away the memories of the last six years weakened ever so slightly. Sephiroth staggered as disjointed images flashed through his mind. 

....staring at Zack through a roaring wall of flame as a small mountain town burned....  


....Masamune plunging deep into Zack's stomach....  


....a long fall into green Mako fires that seared but did not consume....  


....blood-splattered hallways littered with corpses in Shinra uniforms....  


....glowing pale blue eyes filled with terror, horror, and shame....  


....a swift plunge into the heart of a crystal city and the heart of a brown-haired young woman....  


....Strife's tortured screams of anguish and denial....  


....a hellish red light and a huge glowing rock filling the sky....  


....a barren, featureless place and a young man wielding a huge two-handed broadsword in a complex, yet instantly recognizable series of strikes that only one person knew and mastered.... 

--------------------------- 

When Cloud finally managed to get his head back in working order, he found himself swaying on his hand and knees on the floor. At the moment, he couldn't quite gather up the energy to stand up so he wearily propped himself against a nearby lab table. 

Cid squatted down next to him and muttered, "Please tell me that you're not hearing little voices telling you to do bad things." 

Cloud rubbed his hand over his face before ruefully saying, "Do you want me to lie to you, Cid?" 

"Uh, no...." 

As she knelt on the other side of Cloud, Tifa eyed him uneasily for a few seconds before anxiously blurting out a question. 

"Cloud, does that mean that you ARE hearing voices?" 

"Well, I was." He had only the haziest memory of those voices. At the moment, he couldn't quite remember what they had said, but he knew that their words had both sickened and infuriated him. Aloud, he said, "I made them go away." 

"How the hell did you manage that?" said Cid. 

Cloud calmly replied, "I forced myself to stop listening to them." 

The pilot blinked at Cloud's matter-of-fact tone, then said, "Well, I guess that's one way to handle it." 

Although the mental battle had clearly taken a lot out of Cloud, Cid observed with relief that his friend appeared... well, pretty much normal. The calmness wasn't that unusual either. The pilot had noticed before that Cloud tended to become more cool-headed and decisive as situations worsened. 

Tifa put her hand on Cloud's shoulder and said worriedly, "How are you feeling? Is it... is it over?" 

"I feel like someone's been kicking the inside of my head, but other than that, I'm feeling okay at the moment." He looked away. "But is it over? I don't know. I doubt it." 

Even as Cloud spoke, the others noticed that the intensity of the oppressive, foul energy filling the air was gradually fading. It wasn't completely gone, but at least it wasn't as nearly as bad as before. 

Red padded over and peered worriedly into Cloud's face before asking, "Was it Jenova?" 

Cloud nodded slowly. "Yes... and this time, I think it's the real thing." 

The beast lashed his tail back and forth. "You're saying that it's not just Jenova, but rather Jenova-CORE -- this thing that Hojo calls the true Jenova." 

"Yeah. The head must have gotten ejected from the Lifestream when Meteor nearly hit the Planet. Hojo found it... or maybe it called him. Who knows? Anyway, Hojo babbled something about reconstructing Jenova-CORE as well as Sephiroth...." 

Cid slammed the butt of Venus Gospel on the ground. "Shit! That probably explains all the bodies!" 

"What bodies?" asked Cloud as he hauled himself back to his feet. 

Tifa muttered, "The missing bodies from Nibelheim... and apparently from other places." 

Off to the side, Scarlet said sourly, "The crackpot's been hauling hundreds of human corpses into the lowermost levels of the plant." 

Red growled, "Hojo probably used them as raw material to build or create a new body for Jenova-CORE." 

"But hundreds of them?" asked Yuffie. "Just how big is this resurrected Jenova-CORE thingie supposed to be!?" 

"I'm almost afraid to guess," Cloud said quietly. "But it could easily be as big as the other incarnations of Jenova we've encountered before." 

"Shit!" muttered Barret. 

Cloud suddenly realized that nearly everyone in the room was staring at him, except for Vincent and the Turks who were still in the hallway outside the lab. That meant that no one was keeping an eye on.... 

Cloud abruptly demanded, "Who's watching Sephiroth?" 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-16: REDISCOVERY   
------------------------------------------------------ 

The images had come and gone so quickly that Sephiroth could barely grasp their meaning. But he understood enough. He now had a vague idea why everyone hated and feared him so much. He had been involved in some insane scheme to destroy the world... and he had come perilously close to succeeding. 

Sephiroth's first emotion was not regret or guilt for the people he had killed or the havoc he had caused, but rather disgust as he wondered what on earth had induced him to try such a monumentally crazy thing like trying to blow up the world. 

Then he remembered the dark, alien presence that seemed to loom in the background of all those fragmented memories.... It was the very same presence that was now whispering to him, telling him to let go and believe some crazed patchwork of lies just like he did before. 

....like hell he would. 

He had foolishly listened to those whispers once before. He had allowed this alien voice -- this entity called Jenova -- to lure him into some mad, illusionary world. And even though his memories of the resulting events were still unclear, Sephiroth somehow knew that his mistake had cost him the one thing he had ever really cared about. 

Never again. 

As he resolutely shoved the alien voice away, Sephiroth began to recall his strange, rambling conversation with the young woman called Aeris. She had offered him a second chance... a chance to find what he had lost... an opportunity to make things right. But unlike Jenova, Aeris had made no promises. She had even warned him that his path would be anything but easy. 

The memory of Aeris seemed to trigger an awakening in another part of his mind. Sephiroth found that his awareness of Zack's mental presence -- a presence that had previously been faint and almost imperceptible -- had suddenly become much more acute. 

And with his improved perceptions, Aeris' obscure hints and everything else now fell into place for Sephiroth. He knew exactly where Zack was at this very moment... at least in mind, if not in body. 

Sephiroth looked up and stared blankly at the blond, muscular young man standing only a few yards away. Because as preposterous as it might sound, he KNEW that buried somewhere inside Cloud Strife was the mind and the soul of his best friend. 

For a brief instant, Sephiroth wondered if this was all wishful thinking on his part, but the longer he watched Cloud, the more convinced Sephiroth was that his instincts were right. The body might look different, but the truth was in the details. The way Cloud stood, with one hand on his hip and one foot forward... the casual shrug... the tilt of his head... the wry grin and easy confidence... even his way of speaking. 

Sephiroth took a deep, shuddering breath. 

While he could only recall fragments of the last several years, he remembered enough. When Aeris had warned him that his quest would be difficult, she had massively understated the situation. 

....because of all the people on this Planet, Cloud Strife probably had the most reason to utterly despise him. 

And at that moment, Cloud abruptly turned around and gave Sephiroth a cold, suspicious stare. 

--------------------------- 

Yuffie muttered, "Whoa. Check out the look on the guy's face." 

Cloud jerked around to see Sephiroth looking at him with an intense, yet distant expression on his face. 

Barret shifted nervously. "I think the dude's flaked out again." 

"Jenova must have taken him over," muttered Tifa, clenching her fists. 

Red twitched his tail thoughtfully. "Hmmm. I don't think so." He muttered to himself, (I'd say he looks like a person who's just received the shock of his life.) 

Cloud's first impulse was to stalk over to Sephiroth and... do what? Ask the man what was wrong? Offer to help? He couldn't believe that he was actually thinking about doing any of those things.... It wasn't because he felt sorry for the man -- there was something about Sephiroth that refused to be pitied -- but Cloud was unable to deny that he felt worried, not about Sephiroth turning on him or his friends, but worried about the man himself. 

Hell, he wasn't developing sympathy for Sephiroth, was he? Sympathy was very different from pity and a much more dangerous sort of emotion. The mere thought was faintly nauseating. For an angry instant, Cloud wondered if banging his head on a nearby countertop would knock some sense back into himself. However, he ruefully realized that he would only make his already throbbing head hurt even more, not to mention upsetting his friends. 

Unlike Tifa, Cloud really didn't care about revenge for his mother's death or even Aeris' death anymore. All he wanted was to be his own person, to be free of Sephiroth once and for all. He thought he had succeeded after that final confrontation in the Northern Crater a year ago... but now Sephiroth was back. 

He couldn't help brooding about Hojo's description of the Sephiroth Clone project. The scientist had claimed that the process used on Cloud and the other Sephiroth Clones had been designed to make them as close to Sephiroth as possible, not just in body, but also in mind and soul. And if that was true.... Cloud dragged his thoughts away from that depressing line of thought and concentrated on another topic. 

Reeve said that Sephiroth and Zack had been friends. Was that really true? Or had Sephiroth, simply with his icy brilliance and dark charisma, dazzled and overwhelmed Zack the same way the general had dazzled and overwhelmed so many other people... like a certain naive teenager named Cloud Strife? 

// Not bloody likely! // 

As he struggled to get a hold on his confused feelings, Cloud's voice ended up sounding much colder and harsher than he intended. 

"Sephiroth." 

In response to the sharp demand, Sephiroth stiffened. His ice green eyes seem to bore into Cloud, searching for things hidden deep within the young man. To most people, Sephiroth's expression might have appeared unreadable, but Cloud could swear that he saw shock, mixed with disbelief, on the ex-general's face.... 

....and perhaps even a little regret.... 

He frowned and raked his hand through his spiky blond hair in exasperation as he struggled to figure out what was going on with his old enemy. Enemy... Cloud was finding it surprisingly hard to keep thinking of Sephiroth as his despised nemesis... the monster he had loathed for so long. 

Where had all the hatred and rage gone? 

--------------------------- 

The familiar hair-raking gesture made Sephiroth grit his teeth. He berated himself for not realizing the truth sooner. The clues had been right there under his nose all this time. The young man standing in front of him certainly looked like an older Cloud Strife, but he acted so very much like Zack. And it went far deeper than that. Most importantly of all, Cloud FELT like Zack to Sephiroth's reawakened inner senses. 

Unfortunately, finding Zack was the easy part because Sephiroth's discovery left him with far more questions than answers. 

....What exactly had happened?   


....How much of Zack was there in Cloud?   


....Just where did Cloud end and Zack begin?   


....Did Cloud and/or Zack have any idea of what was going on? 

Then more painful questions began to present themselves to Sephiroth. He knew that he had hurt Zack terribly -- the image and the sensation of Masamune sliding effortlessly into his friend's body was all too fresh in his mind. However, the physical injuries were only the tip of the iceberg. Other bits of memory told Sephiroth that being stabbed by Masamune had been only the first of many deliberate cruelties Zack had suffered at Sephiroth's hands. 

(Aeris said that there were so many things between me and Zack... trusts broken... friendship betrayed... unforgivable acts....) 

Was there any possible way to make things right for Zack? He didn't know, but he knew he had to try. As for forgiveness.... 

Sephiroth shoved that thought aside. He wasn't looking for forgiveness or redemption. He didn't expect miracles... not any more. The reasons for his actions weren't really important. He wasn't trying to find excuses for what he had done. Responsibility had to be acknowledged and accepted. 

The past was exactly that... the past. It couldn't be undone or ignored. But now he had a chance to make restitution for the wrongs he had committed against his friend. 

But where to start? Sephiroth knew that he had to first remember and understand what had happened in the six years that had supposedly passed between the Nibelheim mission and his awakening on this day. And more importantly, he needed to know exactly what was going on with Cloud and how Zack fitted into the whole tangled mess. It promised to be an excruciating experience, but Sephiroth was not about to let that stop him. He owed Zack, not just for the pain he had inflicted on his friend, but for the priceless things that Zack had given him. 

Zack had been the one person who hadn't been afraid of Sephiroth... not even at times when Sephiroth frightened everyone else, including himself. 

--------------- 

The meeting with the mayor and councilmen of the small coastal town had been a total waste of time. Fed up with their stupidity and fear, Sephiroth stalked gracefully out of the meeting room, Zack discretely trailing at his heels. They didn't stop walking until they had reached the hills just outside the town limits. 

Sephiroth stared out over the sea and muttered, "Those fools." 

"You scare the crap out of them, sir." 

"Zack... sometimes I scare even myself." After a moment, he asked, "So why aren't you frightened of me?" 

"Maybe I'm too stupid?" Zack said with a careless shrug. 

Sephiroth snorted in rude disbelief. He perched himself on a nearby rock and continued to gaze at the ocean. The minutes passed. Finally, he murmured, "Sometimes, I wish...." 

Zack patiently waited for him to finish. 

"....that I could be like other people. Normal people." There was a soft echo of sadness in his voice. 

Zack quietly said, "I don't think you'd be happy being just one of the crowd. And normal people have plenty of problems, too. Just different ones." 

Sephiroth smiled ruefully. "You probably think I'm exaggerating. Everyone thinks that their own problems are the worst." 

"My uncle used to say that the greater the gifts, the greater the trials." Zack murmured as he moved a bit closer. 

"Gifts!" There was suppressed fury in Sephiroth's voice. "I didn't ask for any of this! I didn't ask for Hojo's blasted meddling! I didn't ask to be poked and prodded, gawked and stared at!" 

"No, you didn't. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I joined SOLDIER. You didn't have a choice." 

"No, I didn't. Here I am, neither fish or fowl, as they say. Different enough so that people instantly notice, but human enough to be bothered by their reactions." Sephiroth sighed impatiently. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to deal with it. Somehow. Because if I can't, I might as well cut my own throat and be done with all the misery." 

Zack gave his superior officer an alarmed look. 

With a sour chuckle, Sephiroth muttered, "Don't worry, Zack. If anything, I'm a born survivor. I think it runs in my blood. If I had really wanted to to kill myself, I would have done it long ago." A brief silence settled before Sephiroth continued. "But sometimes it's so hard to deal with... so lonely...." The last words came out slowly, reluctantly, like a person dragging a long hidden, shameful secret into the open. 

With a faint smile, Zack held out his hand and quietly said, "But you're not alone. Not anymore." 

Sephiroth stared at the outstretched hand, then up at Zack's brown eyes -- eyes which had a soft greenish-gold glow. Then, for the first time he could remember, he reached out, taking Zack's hand and all the unspoken promises with it. 

--------------- 

Zack had not broken the faith. Zack had kept his promises... and had paid dearly for his loyalty. 

No, it was he, the mighty Sephiroth, who had been the one to turn traitor. He had been the one to surrender... the one to give in to Jenova's lies. 

But for the moment, all Sephiroth could do was keep his secrets to himself and observe everything going on around him. He knew he couldn't afford to change his behavior too much. If he became too cooperative, Cloud and his companions would be certain to think that he was plotting something devious... and in a way, he was. 

Sephiroth's thoughts had only taken an instant of real time. With carefully concealed effort, he slipped back into his usual cold, sarcastic persona. 

"What do you want?" he said, addressing Cloud in acid tones. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-17: INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Before Cloud could reply to Sephiroth's demand, Cait Sith yelped, "Guys! We've got big trouble!" 

"Like we don't already have enough!?" muttered Yuffie. 

Bouncing frantically up and down on the Mog's head, the little cat said, "We better get the hell out of here!" 

"What's wrong?" Cloud said quickly. 

"Sapphire WEAPON's suddenly changed course and is heading in this direction!" 

The ninja girl smacked her hand against her forehand. "Oh crap!" 

Red growled, "The Planet must have sensed Jenova-CORE reviving just as we have. It's sending one of the WEAPONs to destroy it!" 

Cait Sith said urgently, "It's really moving! The thing's cruising at over eighty miles per hour!" 

"What!? How can anything so big move that fast through water?" blurted Elena. The Turks and Vincent had rejoined Cloud and the others as soon as they heard Cait Sith's warning. 

The robot cat tossed up its paws and said, "Hey, don't ask me. I'm just telling you what the observers are saying." 

Cloud took a deep breath and said, "How long before it arrives, Cait?" 

"At its current rate of speed... about 10 minutes, Cloud. That's just a rough estimate, of course." 

"There's more bad news, isn't there?" 

The cat nodded quickly. "Yup. You see, it's the Sapphire WEAPON, all right -- there's no mistake about that -- but there's something different about it, too. For one thing, from the reconnaissance pictures, this version is at least 20% bigger than the WEAPON that attacked Junon. And well,... all I can say is that it just looks a hell of a lot MEANER." 

"Meaner!? Are you trying to tell us that the damn thing's somehow gotten more powerful?" shouted Barret. 

Scarlet snapped, "Well, it makes obvious sense. Shinra and you guys managed to destroy all of the original WEAPONs! What do you do when if a weapon fails? You build a better one!" 

"But can the Planet modify the WEAPONs like that? I mean, it's supposed to be aware and all that, but can it actually do something THAT sophisticated?" asked Tifa. 

Red shook his head. "It may not be a conscious process as we know it, but rather an instinctive reaction." 

Elena said, " So you're saying that when a WEAPON's destroyed, the Planet automatically creates a stronger one in an attempt to deal with the threat?" 

"Yes. And it will most likely keep doing that until the threat is eventually neutralized or the Planet itself is destroyed." 

Cid muttered, "Then why the hell didn't the blasted Planet do that when Meteor was about to land in our laps?" 

The red-furred beast shook its head. "Probably a lack of time. Who knows how long it takes to create something as powerful and massive as a WEAPON?" 

Cloud frowned. "If the WEAPONs have gotten more powerful, it also means that the tactics we used before probably won't work again." 

"That's an unfortunate possibility," Red said. 

Scarlet shouted, "Now hold it! I hope you idiots aren't planning to stand around and fight that thing! Because if you are, I'm outta here!" 

"Why are you worried? We've handled WEAPONs before!" snapped Tifa as she glared at the other woman. 

Cloud shook his head urgently. "This situation is very different, Tifa. We fought those WEAPONs on open and stable terrain. But if we try to fight here, we'll have to worry about getting buried and crushed by falling debris. Sapphire WEAPON can probably demolish this place without breaking a sweat." 

Cid added, "Yeah. Tifa, don't you remember what happened at Mideel? The entire town ended up at the bottom of a Mako sinkhole." 

"I'm glad at least a few of you guys recognizes the problem! This place is NOT a goddamn fortress!" snapped Scarlet. 

Tifa snapped, "You could have fooled me with all your stupid security!" 

"What the hell does security have to do with it, you brainless twit!?" 

"What did you call me!?" 

Cloud quickly interrupted before the argument between the two women could degenerate into a physical brawl. 

"Tifa, what Scarlet means is that installations like Junon Fortress are specially designed and reinforced to withstand heavy-duty military assault. That's why the first Sapphire WEAPON only managed to do moderate damage, relatively speaking. But this place is only a research and manufacturing facility. Its construction is primarily designed to keep out small groups of more lightly armed intruders. Spies and that sort of thing. Isn't that right, Scarlet?" 

Scarlet seemed rather surprised by Cloud's understanding as she slowly nodded. "A WEAPON could probably rip this place apart with no problem. And if it uses energy weapons or missiles... well, get in its way, and you'll end up dead like Rufus." Scarlet's lips thinned and she looked away briefly. 

Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow at the mention of Rufus Shinra's death, but said nothing. 

Red added, "Not only are we facing the WEAPON, but don't forget about Hojo and Jenova-CORE. I can't imagine that that Jenova-CORE will stand around idly and allow Sapphire WEAPON to blast it into pieces." 

"Man, talk about getting stuck between a rock and a hard place!" whined Yuffie. 

"Yeah," muttered Barret. 

"What precisely is this Sapphire WEAPON you keep talking about?" Sephiroth interrupted sharply. 

Cloud said evenly, "It's a superweapon created by the Planet. One of several. It's about... I'd guess about 30 stories tall, Cid?" 

"At least. You been to Junon Fortress, Sephiroth?" 

"Of course, Highwind." 

"Fine, then you'll have some idea of what I'm talking about. I don't know how friggin' long the damn thing actually was, but I do know that when it was rearing out of the water, its head was pretty much even with the top level of the fortress." The pilot took a long drag on his cigarette. "Killing it took a point-blank shot to the head with the Cannon. And Cait says that the new version of Sapphire that's headed in our direction is bigger and probably more powerful." 

"I see." An image unfolding in Sephiroth's mind... a place littered with rock and raw Materia... a glimpse of a massive, serpentine creature locked behind a great wall of greenish crystal.... 

"Do you think Jenova knows about the WEAPON's approach?" asked Yuffie. 

Cloud replied, "More than likely. I think Jenova-CORE gave up trying to turn my and Sephiroth's brain inside out because it somehow sensed the WEAPON's approach." 

"Well, I'm glad that there's SOMETHING capable of giving that stupid space bitch a hard time. Maybe we should just get the hell out of the way and let the Planet deal with it," grumbled Barret. 

"I wish we could, but I'm worried that the cure might be as bad or even worse than the disease...," Cloud replied quietly. 

"What do ya mean?" 

"Remember what Bugenhagen said? The Planet doesn't really care about humanity's survival. If the battle goes on for an extended period of time or if the other WEAPONs join in or if Jenova creates its own super-monsters...." 

Red nodded grimly. "Who knows how much environmental damage could occur? In a worst case scenario, the resulting destruction could be severe enough to make the world uninhabitable for humans." 

"Great. Just friggin' great!" Barret muttered. 

Cid jerked his thumb in Sephiroth's direction. "What about....?" 

Cloud smiled grimly. "All our discussions about him are pretty much moot at this point. We're out of time. You know we can't leave him here in such close proximity to Jenova-CORE." 

"Shit. I was afraid you were going to say that." 

Tifa protested, "Cloud, I know you think you're only doing what's necessary, but have you really thought this through? You've got to realize just who we're talking about here!" 

"Tifa, believe me, I'm open to any other suggestions. You know what Jenova was capable of doing even when supposedly dead. Can you imagine what it's capable of now that it's fully awake?" 

She sighed and muttered, "Damn it. You're right. We can't afford to leave him here, dead OR alive. Even if we did kill him, there's no guarantee that he'd stay dead, especially with that... that THING around." 

In a voice brimming with sarcasm, Sephiroth murmured, "What a generous invitation, Lockheart." He had no intention of staying behind, but it wouldn't do to appear too eager to join them. 

Tifa jumped to her feet. "The only reason you're coming with us is because you'd cause more problems if we tried to leave you behind!" 

"Dead or alive," he murmured, throwing her words back at her. He stared coolly at them. "I'm willing to be... cooperative. Not because of your 'concern', but because I prefer to have nothing to do with anything associated with Hojo. And since Hojo is singing this Jenova creature's praises, it's probably prudent to get as far away from it as possible." 

Cait Sith said in a curious voice, "So you didn't believe Hojo when he said that Jenova was your mother?" 

Sephiroth gave the little cat a cynical look. "Believe Hojo on his word alone? Just what sort of fool do you take me for?" 

(Now isn't that interesting....) Red flicked an ear. (Was Cloud right when he said that Jenova itself was largely responsible for Sephiroth's madness?) 

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed ominously, "However, as soon as circumstances permit, I want a full and complete explanation of what's been going on." 

Cloud took a deep breath and said tersely, "Fine. I'll tell you the whole story... everything... AFTER we get the hell out of here. My word on it." 

"Cloud!" Tifa objected. 

He shook his head and said urgently, "No more lies, Tifa. That's how Hojo gets his way. I won't do that." 

Fully occupied with convincing Tifa, Cloud failed to notice the quick exchange of anxious looks between Cait Sith, Cid, and Red. 

"And what if he can't handle the truth and goes around the bend like he did last time!?" muttered Barret. 

"Then it's better to find out sooner than later, isn't it?" 

Red said thoughtfully, "Yes, it suppose it is." 

Cloud looked back at Sephiroth, his blue eyes hooded and wary. "Your cooperation in exchange for information. Satisfied?" 

The ex-general smiled faintly. "I'll suppose it'll have to do." 

Cloud felt a surge of relief as soon as Sephiroth grudgingly agreed to accompany them. He had been dreading the thought of trying to drag an uncooperative Sephiroth out of the weapon facility. 

// Seph, you can be such a stubborn, stiff-necked ass at times. // 

Cait Sith's Mog quickly hopped over to Cloud's side and held out the Ultima Weapon. The little cat chirped, "You shouldn't leave valuable things like this lying around." 

With a faint grin, Cloud slung the massive broadsword over his shoulder and said, "Thanks, Cait. How much time have we got?" 

"About eight minutes. We've got to get moving!" 

"Right." 

Yuffie called out, "Hey, Cloud! Here!" and tossed something toward him. He caught it easily and stared in surprise at his familiar Mystile. He was more amazed to realize that none of the Materia was missing. 

"Yuffie!?" 

The ninja girl flushed bright red and stared nonchalantly at the ceiling as she muttered, "Well, like the cat said, you shouldn't leave valuable stuff like that lying around. You're lucky I found more interesting Materia to play with." 

Cloud shook his head and chuckled ruefully. "Right. I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Yuffie." 

Red glanced up at his blond-haired friend. Although Cloud looked fit enough, the faint traces of physical and mental stress told the beast that his friend was not fully recovered from his recent ordeal. 

Cloud answered Red's silent question. "I'm okay for now. Cid!" 

"Yo! Just a moment!" 

They could hear the pilot having a loud conversation with the crew of the Highwind II. He shouted into his phone, "No! I want you guys to stay the hell away from this area. I'll call you in for a pickup when we're a safe distance away. That's a friggin' order! This place is about to become a goddamn battle zone and I'll have your asses if you guys get yourselves blown up and make me walk all the way home!" 

As he hung up, they heard Cid muttering about 'those insubordinate sons-of-a-bitch'. 

With everyone together, Cloud said, "Okay, guys. Let's get ready to move out. We've got no time to spare." 

Vincent's low voice intruded with a question. 

"What about Hojo?" 

Cloud turned and looked at the dark man and Reno. Clenching his right hand, he said, "Vincent, Reno, if I thought we had the slightest chance of finding him before all hell breaks loose, I'd be after that bastard this very moment. Believe me, I want to take him apart as badly as you guys do, but there's no way, not in the little time we've got." 

For an instant, he was afraid that Vincent would go after Hojo by himself, but after a few seconds of frightening stillness, the dark-haired man slowly nodded. 

Reno muttered, "I'd really hate it if that damned WEAPON manages to kill Hojo off," as he tapped his Nightstick impatiently against his shoulder. 

Cloud said bitterly, "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. I doubt he'll die so easily. Like an infestation of roaches, he always seems to come back." 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-18: JOINT ENDEAVORS   
------------------------------------------------------ 

Cloud shook off his angry mood, then turned to more pressing matters. "Scarlet, what's the quickest way out of here? We have less than...." He glanced questioningly at Cait Sith. 

"Estimated ETA for Sapphire WEAPON is... about seven minutes," the cat chirped. 

Scarlet frowned. After a few seconds, she said, "There's a shaft near here that leads to a catwalk that runs the entire length of the main manufacturing area. It's a straight shot to the storage rooms and the exit tunnel. The problem is that this manufacturing area is one big open room. There's no cover once we hit the catwalk. We'll be dead easy targets...." 

"Don't you have anything better?" snapped Cid. 

"Not if we want to get out of here under seven minutes. As it is, it's going to be damn close," said Scarlet with a shrug. "And if we get bogged down in combat...." 

Cloud said firmly, "Then we'll make sure that doesn't happen." 

--------------------------- 

As they quickly followed Scarlet, Tifa hung back and whispered to Barret, "I don't like it. Sephiroth's being too damn quiet. He's barely said a thing in the last couple of minutes. All he does is watch everyone else, especially Cloud." 

"Yeah, I noticed," her old friend replied. "But we can't really do anything about it right now. Cloud's right. We damn well can't leave the bastard here in Jenova's lap. It'll be better to have the freak where we can keep an eye on him instead of letting him run loose." 

"I know, I know. It's just that...." Tifa gritted her teeth unhappily. 

"Hang tough, okay?" Barret gently thumped her on the shoulder and urged her forward. 

--------------------------- 

Less than a minute later, they were all clustered around a hatchway in the floor. A narrow ladder extended downward nearly fifty feet to a sturdy steel platform that connected to a broad walkway suspended high above the floor of the manufacturing area. The only problem was that the platform was fully occupied by Hojo's twisted minions. 

As they cautiously peered down the ladder shaft, Cid whispered, "You've GOT to be friggin' well joking." 

"Those buggers are creeping all over the place," Yuffie hissed quietly. 

"I'm not blind, you twerp!" the pilot hissed back in annoyance. 

In a whisper, Tifa complained, "Scarlet, are you SURE this is the only way out?" 

"Yes, unless you've got a real quick way of burrowing through several hundred feet of rubble." 

"Down there!?" muttered Elena. 

Cait Sith murmured, "Guys, six minutes and counting." 

A few yards away, Reno paced impatiently. Somehow he had managed to shove the matter of his sister Regis to the back of his mind for the moment. He knew that Cloud was right. Hojo was probably going to find a way to survive the upcoming battle between Sapphire WEAPON and Jenova-CORE... and when the bastard popped up again, he and Vincent Valentine were going to be waiting to rip Hojo's miserable mutated ass to bits. 

Cloud had been silently observing the activity below. He finally whispered, "We've got to clear the area somehow. They all look reptilian so I'd guess that cold would have the most effect on them." 

"A Shiva summoning?" Red grumbled softly. 

Cloud murmured, "Not powerful enough. We need to clear as much as that room as possible. We can't afford to stand and fight. And our ice Materia just doesn't have the range to cover...." He drummed his fingers silently on the edge of the hatchway, then abruptly stopped. 

"I know just the thing," said Cloud with a slow grin -- a cheerful, yet wicked sort of grin. He suddenly looked up at Sephiroth, then made a slight twirling gesture with his right hand. 

Sephiroth's eyes widened in surprise, then a corner of his mouth quirked upward in a secretive, half-smile as if he was sharing a private joke with a close friend. Which, in a way, was exactly what he was doing. 

Cloud glanced at the confused faces around him. 

"Stay out of the way, but get ready to follow us." 

"Out of the way of what? What the hell are you planning to...?" hissed Cid as he and the others backed away from the hatchway. 

Before they could ask any more questions, Sephiroth rose to his feet and elbowed Tifa away from the hatchway even as he neatly dumped a bolt spell down the shaft. Almost before the crackles of lightning faded, Cloud grabbed the sides of the ladder and slid downwards like a stone. He was followed almost immediately by Sephiroth. 

--------------------------- 

Before the survivors of the bolt spell had a chance to recover, Cloud landed on the platform. As soon as he touched down, he sprang clear of the ladder while simultaneously casting the most powerful ice spell he could manage. A fraction of a second later, Sephiroth landed beside him and started on his own spell. 

The resulting combination stunned the watchers above. Sephiroth's perfectly timed wind spell transformed Cloud's already potent magical attack into a devastating storm of ice shards. Driven by hurricane force winds, the razor sharp chunks of ice began to shred virtually everything in the cavernous room around them. Whatever didn't get ripped apart immediately ended up trapped within a rock hard casing of ice. 

Overhead, Yuffie peered down the shaft and managed to choke out an amazed, "Will you look at THAT...." 

Red whispered, "Unbelievable. A synergistic spell combination that's at least an order of magnitude more powerful than the simple additive effect of the two individual spells." 

Barret growled, "Use smaller words, why don't you?" 

"In short... wow." 

As Cloud and Sephiroth stood side-by-side surveying the damage, they felt a sudden vibration ripple through the catwalk. They both stared downwards, then looked at each other. They both had instantly pinpointed and identified the source of that vibration. 

Something very large was moving in the ground below them and it was coming closer. 

There was a muffled crack, then an eerie light gradually washed over the room as glowing green liquid seeped up through the broken concrete floor and slowly spread underneath the thick layer of ice that had formed on the floor. The ice immediately began to hiss and melt. The glowing liquid was unmistakably Mako, but it was contaminated by large globs of some mysterious reddish-purple substance. 

Their goal was the hallway at the far end of the manufacturing area, about 500 yards away. Clustered near the hallway's entrance were several of Hojo's more powerful monsters who had managed to survive the magical ice storm. As the two men warily surveyed the floor below, the enraged creatures began charging toward Cloud and Sephiroth. 

Neither men said a word. There was no need. Sephiroth took off down the catwalk to deal with the oncoming monsters while Cloud glanced up the shaft and snapped, "Get down here, guys!" 

His friends shook off their amazement and hastily began to scramble or slide down the ladder as Cloud kept a wary eye on the steadily growing pool of Mako below the catwalk. 

As he landed on the platform and took a good look around, Reno muttered, "Holy shit!" 

Cid couldn't have said it better. The entire manufacturing area had been turned to a huge glittering ice cavern... a cavern that was now starting to glow with a stomach-churning combination of green and purple light. 

"What the hell's causing that!?" blurted Yuffie. 

Cloud's expression was grim. "Mako. I don't know where it's coming from but...." 

Scarlet went pale. "It has to be from the reactor below us, but that's a good four floors down! And what the hell's all that dark crap floating around in the Mako?" 

"No idea," replied Cloud as another, stronger vibrations rippled through the catwalk. "But I think that something big is trying to break through the floor and forcing the Mako up with it." 

Red's ears went flat and his neck ruff bristled. "It's probably Jenova-CORE." 

Cait shouted, "Less than four minutes, guys!" 

"Where the hell's Sephiroth!?" yelled Barret. 

Cloud jerked his head in the direction of the aerial walkway and said, "Ahead of us, cleaning out the remaining monsters." 

Sephiroth was already well down the catwalk, Masamune in hand. With elegant, efficient precision, he cut down any monsters who were still capable of attacking. 

Cloud continued briskly, "Red, you keep an eye on Sephiroth. Scarlet, you're the guide. Cait Sith, I want you and Yuffie to stick tight to Scarlet. Make she sure she doesn't get into trouble OR gets any bright ideas about leaving us behind." 

"Gotcha!" the ninja girl said. 

"Now wait a minute...!" Scarlet automatically protested. 

Cloud leaned toward her and snapped, "If you haven't noticed, we don't HAVE a minute to spare!" He firmly shoved her on her way. He quickly looked around. "The rest of you, get going! This place could come apart at any moment! Barret, Tifa, and I will take up the rear. Now move out!" 

--------------------------- 

Sephiroth had done his job well. There was nothing to hinder the others' progress as they dashed down the catwalk. But their pace inevitably began to slow as the tremors became increasingly strong. The catwalk began to creak and sway alarmingly before most of them had passed the halfway point. It soon became a struggle to stay on their feet, much less run. 

Sephiroth led the way, with Red right behind him. They were followed by Scarlet, who was surprisingly fast on her feet. Fortunately, Yuffie was even faster. The teenager's speed was probably one of the reasons Cloud had picked the ninja girl to keep on eye on the former head of Shinra's Weapons Development division. And despite its silly appearance, Cait Sith's Mog bounced along like a rubber ball and had no trouble keeping up. 

Behind Scarlet's group were Cid, Vincent, and the Turks who were somewhat slower, but not by much. Cid was probably having the worst time of it, huffing and wheezing noticeably, but he still kept up the pace. 

"Yo, Cid, are we goin' to have to carry you? Maybe we should get Reeve to find you a stuffed Mog to ride on!" growled Barret. 

Cid managed to find the breath to gasp out, "Screw... you... Barret...." 

Tifa panted, "Quit joking... and keep running!" 

They were within a hundred yards of the catwalk's end when the entire building shuddered. Everyone was forced to grab for the nearest railing or support. 

Cait Sith shouted, "It's here!" 

"I never would've guessed, you stupid furball!" screeched Scarlet in return. 

"What!? I thought we had at least two minutes left!" 

"That was just a rough estimate, Cid! It must have picked up speed at the last moment!" 

A few seconds later, the shockwave of a huge explosion knocked most of them to the walkway's floor. Only Cait Sith's squat Mog and the four-footed Red XIII managed to stay on their feet as the entire room shook wildly. Clinging to the catwalk, Cloud and his friends grimly rode out the next series of shocks and tremors which left most of them battered and bruised. 

Yuffie staggered back to her feet and swiped at her bloody nose. "Whoa, what a ride...." 

As they slowly stood, Tifa looked backward and shouted, "LOOK!" 

They all spun to stare in horrified disbelief as the entire back end of the hangar-like manufacturing room seemed to fold in on itself. A second or two later, they realized that the other end of the factory had not simply caved in, but rather that nearly a third of the building -- including a huge chunk of the underlying rock foundation -- had been neatly sheared off the cliff and was now sliding into the sea below. 

Through the newly formed opening, they caught a glimpse of the culprit. Silhouetted against the afternoon sky was the massive, towering form of the Sapphire WEAPON, surrounded by hordes of smaller creatures that swarmed all over it like so many biting flies. The WEAPON's huge tentacles flailed, effortlessly leveling an entire wing of the facility with a few swipes. 

Cloud and the others quickly began to retreat when another rumble got their attention -- this one coming from underneath them. The tremor did not subside, but continued growing in strength, like the approach of a massive freight train. Then, almost without warning, the ice-covered floor of the manufacturing room buckled and heaved upward as a great fountain of the purple-splotched Mako spewed upward less than two hundred yards from where they were standing. It was much too close for comfort. Everyone frantically dodged falling globs of glowing liquid as dark, purplish blue tendrils reached upward through the shattered floor. 

More and more tendrils appeared, until the middle of the room looked like a forest of alien purple trees.... 

....then a towering form slowly rose into view. 

------------------------------------------------------  
PART 7-19: THE CORE OF THE BEAST   
------------------------------------------------------ 

The new monster kept rising as the contaminated Mako poured off its alien flesh and joined the growing pool of liquid on the floor. 

The slim female form and pale blue skin made the entity instantly recognizable to Cloud, but this particular incarnation was bigger than any he had ever seen before... much, much bigger. In addition to a set of human-like arms, the creature had masses of dark purple tentacles which sprang from its shoulders and fanned out behind its torso almost like a great pair of wings. Its legs -- if it had any -- were lost amid the frilly mass of fleshy tissue that swirled around its lower body. And on the entity's head were arrayed several elaborate pairs of sweeping, curling horns... or perhaps they were antennae. There was no way of knowing. 

However, no matter how large this particular form was, it was still dwarfed by the mountain-sized Sapphire WEAPON. The WEAPON's great yellow eyes slowly focused at the strangely beautiful, yet unspeakably alien creature that was its designated target. 

Jenova. 

--------------------------- 

As the others continued to back away until they had reached the dubious safety of the hallway, Cloud continued to stare at this new incarnation of their true enemy. The Ultima Weapon was rock steady in his hands, drawn from its sheath more by instinct than by deliberate thought. 

Fear and loathing didn't even begin to describe what Cloud felt at that moment. It wasn't really fear for himself, but for the people he cared about... and one in particular. As for loathing, the only person he might hate and despise more than Jenova was Hojo. So much pain and destruction could be traced directly back to their various plots and schemes. 

Jenova and Hojo both had a talent for finding people's weaknesses. Once those weak points were located, they burrowed inside minds and souls like maggots, corrupting and devouring everything they came in contact with. One was an alien from space and the other had once been a human being, but on the inside, they were very much the same, down to the same dark aura of malice and madness that seemed to hover over each of them. 

Cloud wanted nothing more than to tear this monstrous entity to pieces for what it had done to him... to Sephiroth... to everyone. But he had enough sense to realize that he couldn't do it alone. More importantly, no matter how badly he wanted to destroy Jenova, he wasn't about to recklessly endanger his friends. They had risked their lives to rescue him and he wasn't about to let them die for their loyalty. 

His friends might be willing to risk death or even sacrifice themselves if necessary, but Cloud was not about simply throw away his friends' lives on some stupid, vengeful impulse. And haphazardly jumping into a battle between these 'improved' incarnations of Jenova and the Sapphire WEAPON would be courting disaster. 

--------------------------- 

For a long moment, the alien monstrosity stood still, its back toward Cloud and the others, its long tendrils rippling in an almost hypnotic pattern... then it slowly pivoted, turning its torso and head in their direction. 

The pale blue face was startlingly beautiful, with fine elegant bones and an eerie serenity. Shadows obscured the upper portion of its head and prevented any clear view of the creature's eyes. However, there was no doubt that it knew of their presence... and that it was recognized Cloud and Sephiroth in particular. 

Then Cloud did something that would have shaken him to the core had he been aware of what he was doing. Without conscious thought and without taking his eyes off the towering alien, Cloud took a step back and two steps to his left, putting him neatly between Sephiroth and Jenova. 

As Cloud held his blade ready and warily watched the towering form of Jenova with an uncommon look of determination on his face, only three people caught the significance of Cloud's actions. 

Both Red XIII and Cait Sith were irresistibly reminded of a mother wolf protecting its cub. Of course the mere idea of someone trying to protect Sephiroth, of all people, was ludicrous, but still.... Neither of them could shake the mental imagery. 

Red could clearly remember seeing that very same look of unshakable resolve and determination on his own mother's face when she had stepped between a huge acid wyrm and her tiny cub. 

Tifa had also noticed Cloud's movements, but her feelings was very different from the other two. Anger, hatred, and another unnamed emotion -- one she wasn't willing to identify -- seemed to form a painful knot in her chest as she glared in Sephiroth's direction. 

--------------------------- 

As for Sephiroth, the sheer enormity of Sapphire WEAPON's physical presence was shocking enough, but the bizarre creature rising out of the floor amid a steady geyser of tainted Mako left him badly shaken. He took a few deep breaths, then silently stepped up behind Cloud. Standing within inches of the other man, Sephiroth softly murmured, "Is that...?" 

Without taking his eyes off the alien creature, Cloud answered in an even and equally quiet voice. 

"Yes, Seph. Jenova." 

-------------------------  
(end of Part 7) 

------------------------------------------------------  
------------------------------------------------------ 

In part 8,   


Find out whether Rocket Town becomes a seaside town as Jenova and Sapphire WEAPON start tearing up the place....  


Cloud treads the razor's edge between love and hate in more ways than one....   


Sephiroth begins to discover the true cost of his past actions....  


A secretive foe continues to make its presence felt.... 

--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra 


	9. The Fall of Wutai sidestory

Last modification date: 11/27/98 

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:   


A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
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PART 7 (side story): THE FALL OF WUTAI  
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---------------  
Disclaimer:  


All rights and privileges to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to Square Co., Ltd. The characters of this series are used without permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   


All original characters are the creation of the author. All copyright privileges to these characters are reserved for the author. 

---------------  
Author's notes: 

WARNING: Violence, Adult language and subject matter. 

This is a CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE REALITY Final Fantasy VII fanfic. It contains major SPOILERS for the game. 

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It was said that Wutai fell when Lord Godo Kisaragi was defeated in single combat by the great Shinra general Sephiroth. 

That was a lie, perpetrated by Shinra's PR department to glorify the corporation's victory over the island nation of Wutai. 

Much of the legend was true. Sephiroth did do a superb job leading the Shinra forces against the warriors of Wutai. It was also true that Sephiroth indeed met and defeated Lord Godo in hand-to-hand combat. 

However, the truth behind the actual downfall of the small island nation was much uglier. 

The defeat of Wutai was sealed even before Lord Godo faced Sephiroth. 

It all started -- or rather ended -- with the cold, calculated assassination of a single woman. 

--------------------------- 

[ Wutai, twelve years ago ] 

Sephiroth tossed the reports down in a gesture of disgust. A few days ago, he had been summoned back to Midgar to deliver a personal report to President Shinra on the progress in the Wutai war. The news awaiting him upon his return to the front had not been good. 

He glanced to his second-in-command who had been placidly watching his superior officer stalking back and forth in ominous silence. 

"That damned fool Thorn. I'm gone less than a week and what happens? He loses nearly every bit of territory we've gained over the last several months. And have you seen these casualty figures?" Sephiroth's voice was cold and sharp with annoyance. "What the hell was the fool thinking of, Zack?" 

His dark-haired friend and subordinate shrugged in that careless way of his. "Personal glory. A place in history. Who knows? I kept telling him that we weren't facing a bunch of half-witted terrorists or rebels. The Wutai people are fighting for their homeland and they're damn good at it. But he wouldn't listen to me." 

"What an ass." 

"I do believe he's related to Palmer." 

"Well, that explains everything." 

There was no doubt that Shinra would eventually win, but if matters continued on their present course, it would be a long, bloody war. Sephiroth had long since figured out how the minds of the Wutai people worked. They had an ancient warrior tradition that prized pride and honor above death. Shinra might defeat the military forces of Wutai, but that wouldn't be the true end of the war. Shinra would be forced to take Wutai, village by village, practically house by house. The campaign could take months, even years, and there was no guarantee that the Wutai would stay suppressed for any length of time. Sephiroth had no intention of getting bogged down in a long, drawn out guerrilla war. 

There had to be a better way. Mere military victory wasn't enough. He had to break Wutai's morale and fighting spirit. 

"Zack, we need to find a way to break up the coalition of Wutai clans. Otherwise, this war can take forever. Right now they have Shinra as a common enemy, but if we can find a way to turn them against each other, the clans will do most of our work for us." 

Zack suddenly gave his superior officer a laconic grin and said, "Well, while you were in Midgar, I got an idea that just might do the trick. Kunitora." 

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Lord Godo's wife?" 

The dark-haired man nodded. "Yup. I've heard that Godo's madly in love with her. He doesn't even keep any concubines, although under Wutai custom, he's entitled -- actually, he's practically obligated -- have at least four or five. Lord Godo may be the front man, but she's the real force behind the throne, so to speak. She's got a fanatical hatred of anything Shinra. As long as she's alive, there's no hope of Wutai surrendering." 

They exchanged a long glance. 

"We don't need a martyr, Zack." 

"Someone as outspoken and strong-minded as Kinutora has plenty of enemies. For example, some of the more recent intelligence reports say that several of the more powerful clans want to come to terms with Shinra before Wutai is totally destroyed. Kinutora would block any attempt to negotiate. Other clans want Kunitora out the way so they can maneuver their own daughters or sisters into Godo's household and eventually into his bed. If any of these females can produce a male heir, her family gains a hell of a political advantage over the other clans." 

Zack grinned wolfishly. "Not to mention that there are several members in Godo's own Kisaragi clan who have plenty of reason to see Kinutora dead. At the moment, she's over eight months pregnant and that doesn't make Godo's male relatives too happy. As long as there's only a female heir, those guys stand a good chance of taking over when Godo dies. They certainly wouldn't want another heir -- especially a male heir -- between them and Godo's title. I could go on. We're just another tree in a very crowded forest." 

Sephiroth smiled slowly. "Perfect." 

"Kinutora's the only daughter of the Misa clan, the second most powerful clan in Wutai. They're notoriously hotheaded. It's been less than thirty years since the last major clan war in Wutai. If she dies of a suspicious accident, her family is bound to start pointing fingers and making accusations." 

Zack propped his hip on a nearby table. "Seph, you know that Godo and his wife are holding the clans together with sheer willpower and personality. With Kinutora dead, Godo devastated by her loss, and wild accusations flying around, the clan alliance will fall apart. And with their clans and their leaders in disarray, the Wutai people will lose their will to fight." 

"Give me the downside." 

"It's a hell of a gamble. It's going to be tricky to kill her in a way that raises suspicions, but isn't too blatantly obvious. And if we've got our information screwed up or anything goes wrong, this operation could blow up in our faces. The last thing we need is to have her death blamed on Shinra," Zack said. 

Sephiroth laughed softly and shook his head. "We're bound to come under suspicion, but that doesn't matter. All we need is plausible deniability. As long as there's no direct proof pointing to Shinra and as long as there are plenty of equally good -- if not better -- suspects within Wutai itself, the plan will work." 

His decision made, Sephiroth rose to his feet and said, "Well, Zack, are you up to it? It's not going to be easy, sneaking into Godo's palace on such short notice, but if she's nearly ready to give birth, we can't afford to wait." 

With that familiar easy grin, his friend said, "Consider it done." 

--------------------------- 

Three days later, Kinutora Kisaragi, the only wife of Lord Godo of Wutai, was found at the bottom of a staircase. 

The actual cause of death -- a broken neck -- was indisputable. But other questions, such as HOW Kinutora managed to fall down a flight of stairs and WHEN precisely did her neck get broken, started a firestorm of controversy as rumors of foul murder began to spread throughout Wutai. 

A grief-stricken Lord Godo locked himself into his study, abandoning the clan council to their own devices and leaving his young daughter Yuffie alone to deal with the loss of her beloved mother. 

Two days after Kinatora's death, her cousin Mokoto Misa killed the heir of the powerful Azuma clan for his rumored involvement in Kinutora's murder. In retaliation, the Azuma clan burned down several buildings on the Misa clan's estate, killing several of Lord Misa's prized concubines. The fathers of these women then in turn attacked the Azuma clan seeking revenge. And so it went.... 

Sephiroth and his shadow coolly watched as the aristocratic clans of Wutai began to tear each other apart. 

Less than three weeks after Kinutora's suspicious death, Lord Godo was defeated and Wutai fell like a ripe fruit into Sephiroth's hands. The Shinra occupation troops, under the strictest orders from the General to be on their best behavior, met virtually no resistance from the Wutai people who had been dreading a return to the bloody chaos of the old clan wars. 

**********************************************************************  
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--------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E 

http://www.geocities.com/~madamhydra/ 


	10. Puppets sidestory

Last revised: 10/15/2002  
Completed: 10/15/2002   
  
[fic][FF7] Puppets: a Conflicts of Interest sidestory (rough draft)   
  
  
I know it's been a LOOONG time since I posted anything for "Conflicts of Interest", but I have definitely been working on Part 8 in between various other projects.  I swear!  ^_^;;;    
  
For those who are unfamiliar with the story, feel free to check out the story at my website (listed below) or at fanfiction.net.   
  
   http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=24055  
  
Anyway, playing the game Kingdom Hearts (Wah!  Cloud!  Sephiroth!  *__* ) has inspired me to work on and post assorted story chunks that didn't quite fit into the flow of COI Part 8.  They consist mostly of extended flashbacks and prequel ficlets for various characters (e.g., Reno, Rude, Red XIII, Vincent, etc.).  I also have a sidestory which reveals what exactly the mad scientist sisters did to poor Cloud during his five years as Hojo's prisoner/experimental subject.  I'll probably start posting those soon, so you guys will have more to look forward to.    
  
I hope you enjoy this sidestory!  ^_^    
  
-----------------------------------  
  
SUMMARY:  For five long years after the Nibelheim Incident, Sephiroth has lain dormant in his green crystalline cocoon.  Then one day, he abruptly awakens and begins his diabolical schemes against Shinra and the Planet.  But what event initiates this chain of events?  And how is Cloud involved?  
  
Title: Puppets - a Conflicts of Interest sidestory  
Author: Madamhydra  
Email: madamhydra@aol.com  
Status:  WIP (work-in-progress)  
Archive:  www.madamhydra.net/COI.html, fanfiction.net  
Type: Continuation, Alternate Reality  
Rating: R  
Spoilers:  entire game  
  
********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS **********  
   Violence  
   Obscene language  
   Mature themes (references to abuse, torture, rape, etc.)  
  Implied sexual content  
********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS **********  
  
Disclaimer: (Full Disclaimers at the end) Final Fantasy VII is the copyright and property of its creators and legally associated parties.  Used without permission.  Not for profit.  
  
   ( ... ) represents internal dialogue  
   / ... / represents flashbacks  
  
   (  ) are character thoughts  
   /  / and //  // and { } are mental dialogue of various people  
   [   ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects  
  
======================================================================  
   Puppets - a CONFLICTS OF INTEREST sidestory  
       A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  
  
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   Get the feeling, head is reeling  
   You think you're in control but you don't know me babe   
   I can move you, I can soothe you  
   I can take you places in a different way   
  
   And I don't think you understand   
   What I'm trying to say  
   I'll be your operator baby  
   I'm in control   
  
   Watch your action, close reaction  
   And everything you're thinking babe inside your head  
   Conversation, my creation   
   Nothing that you do you do unless I said  
  
   And you don't know the consequences  
   Of the things you say  
   I'll be your operator baby   
   I'm in control   
  
   All the things you tried to do babe  
   And all the words we've said before  
   Are only part of what I started baby  
   And you can't stop me anymore  
  
       -- "Puppets" by Depeche Mode   
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
======================================================================  
  
   [five years after the Mt. Nibel incident]  
  
   On the cliffs overlooking Midgar, Cloud stared down at his badly wounded friend....    
  
   / Friend?  FRIEND!?  How can you call Zack a FRIEND!? /  
  
   / Would a FRIEND try to steal your mind? /  
  
   / Would a FRIEND try to take you over, body and soul? /  
  
   Cloud glared down at the heavily bleeding SOLDIER and screamed, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!!!"    
  
   He could feel Zack's thoughts and feelings -- could feel them pressing in on his mind, leaving no room for himself.  For Cloud.  The boundaries were fraying.  Where did Cloud end and Zack begin?  
  
   Did Zack have any idea what he was doing to Cloud?  Of course he did.  Zack couldn't possibly be that oblivious.  He HAD to know exactly what was going on.  That's right.  Zack was in on the plot to destroy him....  
  
   No, he won't let that happen.  With a crazed glitter in his glowing blue eyes, Cloud lifted the broadsword overhead.  It hovered there for a brief instant, then slashed downward, shearing through flesh and tendons, nearly to the spine.  Blood spurted, splattering his face.  
  
   One blow wasn't nearly enough. The sword rose and fell again.  And again.     
  
   As that first blow sheared through his chest, Zack's eyes had jerked open.  He locked gazes with his murderer -- the young man that he had been trying so hard to save....   
  
   / No, you fool!  HE's the one trying to possess you!  HE's the one trying to erase Cloud Strife from existence! /  
     
   Those glowing mako eyes stayed open as Cloud continued to hack away.  
  
   "STOP LOOKING AT ME!" Cloud screamed as the heavy blade smashed deep into Zack's skull.    
  
   But the eyes were untouched.  That blank, accusing stare....  
  
   He frantically swung again.  
  
   The eyes continued to stare.  
  
   // Cloud...? //  
  
   He heard a voice echo in his head -- the familiar voice that had helped him hold back the madness for so long.    
  
   "Zack....?"  
     
   Horrified, Cloud dropped the sword and watched helplessly as the mako glow in Zack's eyes slowly faded away, extinguished forever.  What had he just done?  He had just killed the only person who cared about him, the man who had helped him,... his companion for over four hellish years.  His only friend....  
  
   // We're friends, right? //  
     
   "No... NO!"  
     
   He giggled madly as he futilely tried to get the gaping wounds in Zack's body to close.  All he succeeded in doing was smearing blood all over himself.  Blood that would never go away....    
  
   He was every bit as much as a monster as Sephiroth.  Even now, he could sense a part of himself that was happy -- happy that Zack was dead.  And that vicious, murderous part had a name all its own....  
  
   "Strife...."  
  
   / Zack deserved it! /  
  
   "No... he didn't!  He didn't!" Cloud whimpered, shaking his head wildly.  
  
   / Didn't I listen to you when no one else would? /  
   / Didn't I hurt those whom you wanted to hurt? /  
   / Didn't I take what you wanted to take? /  
  
   / You OWE me! /  
  
   "Shut up...."  
  
   / You belong to ME! /  
  
   "Shut up!"  
  
   / I won't let anyone else have you! /  
  
   "SHUT UP!!!"  
  
   He... Cloud... Strife... both of them needed to be punished.  They had to pay for what they had just done -- and might do again.  Didn't everyone say that monsters and mad dogs should be destroyed?    
  
   He was both monster and mad, thus doubly deserving of destruction.  
  
   As he knelt in the rain and the deepening gloom, Cloud felt his consciousness slowly begin to crumble under the crushing burden of guilt and self-hatred.  And if there was any justice in the world, he would never wake up again.  A life for a life -- how fitting.   
  
   And on that outcrop overlooking the great city of Midgar, Cloud Strife of Nibelheim, ex-Shinra trooper, experimental subject, Sephiroth Clone, murderer, madman, essentially... died.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
   Pain jolted Sephiroth from the comfortable cocoon of oblivion... pain that was a horrible, wrenching sensation originating not from wounded flesh, but from something much deeper within.  He struggled to return to the womb-like security of unthinking slumber, but when that failed, he lashed out with his mind, desperate to find the source of this crushing feeling of loss... loneliness... grief... sorrow....  
  
   What could hurt him so badly?  What could make his heart ache so terribly?  WHO could hurt him like this?  
  
   He flung his thoughts outward, ignoring the dull hum of ordinary minds, hunting wildly for an entity powerful enough to cause him such pain.  
  
   But the middle of his search for his mysterious enemy, he abruptly became distracted by an unexpected discovery.  Most minds he encountered were oblivious to his questing thoughts, but there were certain minds that seemed to resonate as he brushed them with his power.  He hesitated, torn between his sudden, insatiable curiosity about these strange minds and his desperate need to hunt down the source of this mysterious inner pain.   
  
   But even as he hesitated indecisively, SHE came.  Jenova's body might be imprisoned by humans, but her spirit could never be bound by such miserable creatures.  She poured over his mind like a great tidal wave, exulting in his reawakening.  Her power enveloped him utterly, soothing away his inexplicable distress and sweeping away his uncertainty, even as she simultaneously reminded him of who he truly was and what he needed to do.  And in her wake, she left his mind as clear, cold, and unyielding as the green crystalline cocoon encasing his physical body.    
  
   He was Sephiroth.  He bore the blood of the Ancients and he *would* take back everything which the humans had so greedily stolen from his Mother.  
  
   For a brief instant, images of the other planets conquered by Jenova in her eons-old journey floated across his vision.  They glowed like great dark pearls, glorious in their perfect and absolute sterility.  
  
   This world belonged to Jenova.  Mother relied upon him to return this planet to her, her proper domain.    
  
   He would not fail her.    
  
   In his mind, her dark, soaring voice subsided to a murmur -- soft, yet ever present, in the same way the songs of the great sea whales permeated the oceans.    
  
   Now, with his newly calmed and refocused mind, he leisurely turned his full attention back to the fascinating mental resonance that had so intrigued him earlier.  He prodded those odd minds, and watched with a cold, detached amusement as they quivered helplessly in response to his power.    
  
   Yes, those individuals might look and act like normal humans, but in truth, they were nothing more than hollow shells awaiting to be filled by his will -- the will of Sephiroth.  At first there were a few, brief glimmers of resistance, but he crushed those rebellious impulses with contemptuous ease.  Once that was done, he found he could slide effortlessly into these hollow minds and set them to any task he desired, altering their thoughts, their memories, and even their bodies as it suited his purpose.    
  
   Puppets.  
  
   How ironic that Hojo's botched experiments should provide him with the perfect tools to carry out his quest.  And how typical of Hojo's delusions of grandeur to call these creatures 'Sephiroth Clones', in a feeble attempt to pretend that these creatures were somehow near-perfect duplicates of himself.  How could a worm like Hojo presume to think he could create a copy of Dr. Gast's and Jenova's masterpiece?    
  
   No, these 'Clones' were nothing more than feeble shadows of himself.  And just like shadows, these puppet-minds had no true will of their own.  They had lost all claim to autonomy when they accepted Jenova's cells into their bodies.  Now, as mere extensions of his own will, they would serve their master well as his eyes and ears, mouth and hands.  But the aspect he found the most amusing was his puppets' utter ignorance of his dominion and manipulation.  They could only obey, quite unaware that they were acting in accordance with their true master's desires instead of their own.  
  
   However, of all the hollow minds he encountered, one in particular drew his attention, although he was uncertain why it fascinated him so.  The other Clones maintained a facade of ordinary thoughts and emotions that hid their true nature and allowed them to pass as ordinary humans, but this special Clone had no such camouflage.  While the physical body functioned flawlessly, the same certainly could not be said for its mental condition.  Its shattered mind was nothing more than an echoing void littered with an incoherent jumble of fragmented memories and emotions.  It was a minor miracle that the near mindless creature hadn't already managed to kill itself by drowning or falling.  
  
   Intrigued by the chaos within this Clone's brain, he decided to explore it further.  Intent on his examination, he ignored the stream of whimpering moans and anguished sobs -- mixed with the occasional scream -- that trickled out the puppet's slack mouth as it stumbled and staggered through the brush-covered cliffs overlooking Midgar.  From its constant snivelling, it appeared that the creature found his probing exquisitely painful.  Its evident suffering did nothing to deter him from his explorations, but what he discovered inside its devastated mind made him pause.  
  
   This Clone knew... had known him.  That much was clear from the disjointed memories floating around in its broken mind. But as to the specific identity of this particular Clone, that information remained maddeningly elusive.  
  
   He really should have disposed of the creature, using the briefest flick of his will to send it obediently careening off the nearest outcrop.  What possible use could he have for such a broken thing?  It was less than human, even less than the other puppets that Hojo so grandiosely called 'Sephiroth Clones'.  At least they had some pretense of self-identity, however feeble it might be.  This broken-minded creature lacked even that.    
  
   And yet he hesitated to get rid of it.    
  
   The mystery of its identity continued to puzzle him, and the deeper he probed, the more disturbed he become.  The creature had not only known him, but known him well.  But if that was true, why couldn't he identify this individual?    
  
   His growing confusion eventually roused his Mother's attention and her power quickly brushed away the turmoil that threatened to distract him from his true goals.  This Clone's identity was unimportant.  No matter who this person might have been, it changed nothing.  After all, what possible significance could a mere human have for him?  The only issue was whether this particular puppet would prove useful to him and Jenova.  
  
   It was mere chance that the creature stumbled across a small pond and gave him the opportunity to see the puppet's face.  Peering through its eyes, he stared down at the image reflected in the calm, mirror-like surface of the water.  The blond hair was matted with dirt and dried blood, the face had grown gaunt from constant pain and suffering, and the blue eyes now burned brightly with that familiar mako glow.  But not even the intervening years and Hojo's meddling could prevent him from instantly recognizing this particular puppet.  
  
   Cloud Strife.  
  
   He smiled slowly, and watched the Clone's reflection obediently do the same.  When he saw that, Sephiroth knew he would find some use for this pathetic shell of a human.  
  
   But to ensure that Cloud Strife would serve his purpose, his puppet needed both repair and maintenance.  Unfortunately, in its current mental condition, the creature was clearly incapable of taking care of itself.  However, the solution to that problem was easy -- Sephiroth simply sought out another one of his Clones and made his desire known.    
  
   The ex-Shinra medic would have no idea why he suddenly developed the irresistible urge to take a trip outside Midgar, nor would the medic understand why he felt compelled to take care of the thin, dirty, vacant-eyed young man patiently standing by the side of the road and bring that blond man back to the city.  
  
--------------------------------  
  
   Days and weeks passed unnoticed as Sephiroth drove his consciousness deep into the Lifestream in the search for the Ancients' secrets.  In the end, the Lifestream yielded the information he desired -- that and much more.  
  
   Now he was ready.    
  
   He turned his attention back to Midgar and prepared to set his puppets in motion.  However, to his amusement, he discovered that the empty husk once known as Cloud Strife was no longer quite so empty.  Somehow, while he had been fully occupied with uncovering the knowledge of the Ancients, the Clone had managed to put together some semblance of an identity.  It had even managed to cobble together a semi-plausible past for itself out of its fragmented memories and the pathetic fantasies of a teenage outcast.  By now, the delusion was nearly complete.  His puppet truly thought of itself as Cloud Strife, former SOLDIER of Shinra.  
  
   This discovery made him revise his plans.  He had initially intended to take direct control of 'Cloud' and use it to liberate his Mother's body from Hojo's grasp.  But perhaps a more indirect approach was in order.  It would provide an excellent opportunity to test both the effectiveness of his control over these so-called 'Sephiroth Clones' and the extent of their abilities.    
  
   And it would certainly be more entertaining.  He was curious to know just how much this new 'Cloud' was capable of accomplishing on his own.  The Clone had the physique, but would the mere delusion of being a SOLDIER be enough to carry the impostor through the all the hazards and perils of a grand quest?    
  
   He could take over the Clone's mind any time he chose, but for now, he would allow 'Cloud' to go its own way... mostly.  However, as its master, he was prepared to provide his puppet with whatever guidance and 'encouragement' Sephiroth deemed necessary.  
  
   His Mother raised no objection to his change in plans.  After eons of waiting, what difference could a few weeks or months make to Jenova?  The Planet would be hers.  It was inevitable.  
  
   Through his other puppets in Midgar, he had learned of Tifa Lockheart's involvement in the terrorist organization known as Avalanche and their impending raid on one of Midgar's great mako reactors.  It was only fitting that the two survivors of Nibelheim be reunited now, as he prepared to finish the task he started at the Mt. Nibel reactor five long years ago.  Yes, he would set Cloud Strife loose in Midgar, drop him into Lockheart's lap, and see what happened.    
  
   In the rooms above the ex-Shinra medic's clinic, he gazed out of Cloud's glowing blue eyes at Cloud's reflection in the mirror.  Several weeks of good food and exercise had restored the Clone to optimum physical condition.  He now watched in cool amusement as his puppet dressed in a manner fitting a SOLDIER.  However, the sight of the SOLDIER's belt in Cloud's hands brought a sharp, unexpected twinge of emotion.    
  
   (Zack....)  
  
   Reacting to its master's sudden turmoil, the Clone dropped the belt to the floor as it winced and grabbed at its head, shuddering.  
  
   But almost immediately Sephiroth was back in control of both his emotions and his puppet.  He had recognized the belt, of course, and it meant... nothing.  Yes, it and its former owner meant nothing to him.    
  
   Absolutely nothing.  
  
   Sephiroth continued to repeat that thought to himself as he watched Cloud finish dressing and arming himself.  The final touch was the huge, familiar broadsword.  The old Cloud Strife would have had a difficult time just lifting the blade, but the new Cloud slid the weapon smoothly and effortlessly into the sheath on his back.  
  
   Without a second look, Cloud Strife left the room that he had occupied for the last month and promptly forgot about it -- forgot it and everything associated with that room.  Ignoring the steady drizzling rain, he purposefully headed down the street toward the train station and a long awaited reunion with Tifa Lockheart.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
(end)  
=====================================================================  
  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
Keeper of Duo's Dark Side ~~~ Duo no Seishi  
Saitoh no Koibito ~~~ Corruptor Extraordinaire  
-------------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com              /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E  
http://www.madamhydra.net/  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
======================================================================  
The Full Disclaimer:  
   All names, likenesses, and rights of Final Fantasy VII and its characters are trademarks, copyright, and property of Square Co., Ltd. and legally associated parties.  The characters and associated materials of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only.  The author of this work claims no ownership, part or whole, of the original plot and characters.  This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.    
   All original portions of this work is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author Madamhydra.  No part of this work is to be reproduced, altered, or adapted in any way without the author's express permission.  
  
======================================================================  



	11. Hollow 1 sidestory

Last revised: 11/12/2002  
Completed:   
  
[fic][FF7] Hollow: a Conflicts of Interest sidestory (1/2)(very rough draft)   
  
This is the first half of my COI sidestory about Cloud and Zack's experiences in the Nibelheim labs.  I hope to have the last half done in the next few weeks or so.  ::sweatdrop::  
  
For those who are unfamiliar with the story, feel free to check out the story at my website (listed below) or at fanfiction.net.   
  
   http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=24055  
  
==Warning!===    
I know that some parts of this sidestory (especially the timeline) are inconsistent with previously written chapters of COI.  I'm planning to go back and rewrite parts of those chapters to make everything internally consistent.  ^_^;;;  
  
I just saw a little video clip from Kingdom Hearts Max, the Japanese version.  Apparently, there's a scene or special feature when they have  
Sephiroth and Cloud fighting each other!  Woohoo!  *__*  
  
This is a VERY rough draft so I apologize in advance for the typos and mistakes.  I hope you enjoy this sidestory and I'd appreciate any comments and/or criticisms!  ^_^    
  
-----------------------------------  
  
SUMMARY:  Cloud and Zack both managed to survive the massacre at Nibelheim, but can they survive the events that follow?  
  
Title: Hollow - a Conflicts of Interest sidestory  
Author: Madamhydra  
Email: madamhydra@aol.com  
Status:  WIP (work-in-progress)  
Archive:  www.madamhydra.net/COI.html, fanfiction.net  
Type: Continuation - Alternate Reality  
Rating: R  
Spoilers:  entire FF7 game  
  
********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS **********  
   Violence  
   Obscene language  
   Mature themes (references to abuse, torture, rape, etc.)  
  Implied sexual content  
********** WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS ********* WARNINGS **********  
  
Disclaimer: (Full Disclaimers at the end) Final Fantasy VII is the copyright and property of its creators and legally associated parties.  Used without permission.  Not for profit.  
  
   ( ... ) represents internal dialogue  
   / ... / represents flashbacks  
  
   (  ) are character thoughts  
   /  / and //  // and { } are mental dialogue of various people  
   [   ] are miscellaneous images or sound effects  
  
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   Hollow - a CONFLICTS OF INTEREST sidestory  
       A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra  
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   Part 1 (very rough draft)  
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   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   I'm the man in the box   
   Buried in my shit   
   Won't you come and save me, save me   
  
   Feed my eyes, can you sew them shut?   
   Jesus Christ, deny your maker   
   He who tries, will be wasted   
   Feed my eyes now you've sewn them shut   
  
   I'm the dog who gets beat   
   Shove my nose in shit   
   Won't you come & save me   
  
   Feed my eyes, can you sew them shut?   
   Jesus Christ, deny your maker   
   He who tries, will be wasted   
   Feed my eyes now you've sewn them shut   
  
       -- "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains   
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
     
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   [ 2 months after the Nibelheim incident ]  
  
   President Shinra closed the report folder and leaned back in his chair. Steepling his fingers, he gazed across his massive desk at the long-haired woman.  
  
   "An interesting research proposal, Dr. Roissy.  Very interesting, indeed.  And one that could yield considerable dividends for Shinra, if you can deliver."  
  
   The scientist smiled confidently and said, "The preliminary animal tests certainly provide strong evidence as to the feasibility of this project."  
  
   "True, true."  He stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully, then said, "And you want to use Major Faelan and the other survivors from Nibelheim in this project?"  
  
   "Yes.  I think that Faelan's participation will maximize our chances of a successful outcome.  And as for the others, they're already expendable."  
  
   "Hmmm.  But it's still a considerable security risk.  After all, Faelan's is a SOLDIER, First Class.  One of our very best."  He shook his head with genuine regret.  "A pity that he got embroiled in this Nibelheim mess.  To lose the two best members of SOLDIER in a single botched operation... what a waste of resources.  In a way, I'm glad Faelan survived, but it's also damned inconvenient.  I've been wondering what I should do with him.  We can't let him go -- he knows too much."    
  
   Roissy leaned forward slightly and said, "But that's just my point, Sir.  My initial data indicates that Major Faelan is the optimum candidate for this experiment.  It would be a terrible waste to simply terminate him when he can still serve Shinra's interests, although in a rather different capacity."  
  
   "Experimental guinea pig, you mean."  
  
   "I'll admit that it's not nearly as glamorous as being a SOLDIER, but that doesn't make his contribution any less valuable.  Especially now that Sephiroth is now missing in action, and presumably dead."  
  
   "Hmph.  Do you know that Hojo's already expressed a strong interest in keeping Major Faelan alive?"  
  
   "I've heard some rumors to that effect."  
  
   President Shinra drummed his fingers on Roissy's report.  
  
   "And you think you can keep Faelan securely confined for the duration of the experiment?  For years, if necessary?  In your proposal, you made it clear that this is a long-term project."  
  
   "I've studied the problem extensively and I believe I'm come up with a workable system."  
  
   "Any chance of getting Faelan to cooperate willingly?"  
  
   "Unfortunately, I don't think so.  The one thing he really seems to want is the one thing we can't give him -- namely, his freedom.  However, he's a reasonable man, so there might be some room for negotiations in the little things."  
  
   "And what does Dr. Savois say about this?"  He tapped the report.  "SOLDIERs are your sister's area of expertise.  So why isn't her name on this proposal?"  
  
   Roissy sighed, then said, "I have my sister's full support.  And you are quite correct.  Under normal circumstances, both of us would be presenting this proposal to you.  Unfortunately, my sister and Dr. Hojo have had an ongoing professional... feud, you might say, regarding the best direction for Mako- and Jenova-related research for many years.  Because of this disagreement, Dr. Hojo has barred Savois from the Nibelheim labs.  
  
   "Savois was concerned that her involvement would create complications.  She felt that it was in the best interests of the project that her name not be associated with it.  Especially if Dr. Hojo chooses to view this project as competing with his own line of research."  
  
   Shinra and Roissy exchanged meaningful looks.  They were both very familiar with Hojo's territorial, vindictive, and spiteful nature.  
  
   "True enough.  Your sister is a sensible woman.  But I hope you don't mind if I confirm your statement myself."  
  
   "Please, Sir.  Feel free to do so," Roissy said with a generous wave of her hand.   
  
   President Shinra picked up the phone and dialled.  
  
   "Dr. Savois, please.  Yes.  Ah, Doctor.  Have you read your sister's proposal?  Hm.  You have.  Do you have anything else to add?  Yes.  I see.  Your position is perfectly understandable.  But you will be happy to provide the project with support and comparative data.  Good, good.  Thank you."  
  
   After hanging up, Shinra said, "Well, that's settled."  He paused, then added, "You have another sister, I believe.  Will she also be involved in this project?"  
  
   Roissy shrugged indifferently.    
  
   "I suppose so.  But if she does, it will only be on the most basic levels.  Unfortunately, Montessi simply doesn't have the particular spark necessary for a great researcher.  However, she makes a perfectly adequate lab technician, so I suppose I could use her to collect the raw data."  
  
   He laughed loudly, then flipped a copy of the report open to its title page.  
  
   "Ha!  You can pick your friends and colleagues, but you can't pick your relatives, eh?"  
  
   President Shinra scrawled a short note on the title page, then signed it with a flourish.  
  
   As he handed the signed copy to Roissy, he said, "I want you to know that I'm expecting great things from this project.  Not immediately, of course.  I know this sort of research takes time.  But I would appreciate receiving positive progress reports."  
  
   She rose to her feet and gave him a graceful bow.  
  
   "I feel quite confident that the results of my experiments would fully satisfy your expectations.  Perhaps even exceed them."  
  
   He uttered a low, rumbling chuckle.   
  
   "We'll see, won't we, Doctor?"  
  
   As she left his office, President Shinra reached over and opened another copy of Roissy's research proposal.  The title page read:  
  
   DEVELOPMENT OF SECOND GENERATION  
        -SOLDIER- COMBATANTS  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   [ M months after the Nibelheim incident ]  
  
   The guards dragged him into the lab, threw him into the padded chair, then strapped him down good and tight.  When his bare skin got pinched in one of the buckles, he uttered a pained squeak.  For that, he got a vicious slap across the face.  The only thing left to do was subside into quivering silence.  
  
   Was it his painfully oversensitive hearing or was he just imagining the sound of high heels marching purposefully down the hallway toward the lab.  He started to shake even harder.  No, that drumbeat of doom was REAL.  
  
   He knew who was coming.  
  
   The door swished open.  He heard himself mewing brokenly as dread and terror continued to build, but by now, he was totally beyond shame.  He squeezed his eyes shut in a last, futile effort at denial.  
  
   The clicking heels came to a halt beside him and Dr. Roissy spoke in her usual soft, delicate voice.  
  
   "Hm, he's lost control of his bodily functions again, and we haven't even gotten started.  This is starting to become wearisome.  Johnson, from now on, use the catheters.  Now clean him up, so we can get started.  And when that's done, get him prepped."  
  
   "Yes, doctor," said a deferential male voice.  
  
   He cringed as a team of lab techs briskly wiped his naked body and the chair, then squirmed involuntarily as cold, latex-gloved hands forced the lubricated tubes inside various bodily orifices.  One of them, a woman, prodded his genitals and said something that made the other technicians chuckle.  Once, long ago, something like that would have infuriated him.  He now wished with all his heart that contempt and nasty jokes were the only things to endure.  He felt the sting of various needles, both large and small.  There was a jaw-stretching gag, followed by clamps to hold his eyelids wide open.  Under the cold white glare of the lab lights, his eyes seemed to pulse and throb in their sockets in time with his frantic heartbeat.  The warm liquid trickling down his face....  Was it tears or blood?  He didn't know.  
  
   "Finished, Dr. Roissy," the lead tech said.  
  
   His eyeballs rolled upward to see the doctor looking down at him with that coolly amused smile of hers.  So pretty, so delicate, with her long brown hair and petite build... but so horribly cruel.  God, how cruel.  And no matter how much she hurt him, she kept smiling.  Hurting him made her happy.  He was sure of it.  When he saw the familiar oversized metal visor in her hands, he cringed back into the chair, a choked scream clawed its way up his throat and built up behind the gag.  
  
   "Stop that pathetic whining, Cloud.  You know how that irritates me."  
  
   She waited a moment until he managed to quiet himself to her satisfaction, then continued, "Today we begin a new series of tests.  If you cooperate, this part won't be nearly as painful as the Stage 1 experiments.  However, if you refuse to cooperate, I might have to put you through Stage 1 all over again.  And if you thought it was unbearable the first time around, trust me when I tell you that I can make things much, much worse for you.  I hate wasting my valuable time.  I hate it even more when I have to waste my time because my experimental subject wants to be 'difficult'.  Understand me?"  
  
   He nodded frantically.  
  
   "Good.  Now pay very close attention to everything you see or hear.  Everything, no matter how minor or trivial, because I just might give you a pop quiz.  You know what will happen if your answers don't satisfy me."  
  
   He made more wildly desperate nods.  
  
   She lifted the bulky metal visor, complete with heavy earpieces and a frightening array of wires and cables, and placed it over his head.  He felt the pressure as she tightly clamped the device onto his skull.  Once in place, the visor blocked out everything, leaving him locked in darkness and silence.  
  
   Blind and deaf, he wanted to scream and claw the damn thing off his head, but the memory of Dr. Roissy's threats kept him paralyzed with fear.  She promised that resistance would only make things worse, and she was a woman who enjoyed keeping those sorts of promises.  All he could do is lie there and endure yet another agonizing assault on his sanity.  He didn't have a clue what they wanted from him.  If they would only tell him, he'd do it.  He'd do fucking anything to stop the hellish 'treatments' they kept putting him through. And after each session, it became harder to think, to remember....  They were turning his head into a raw, bleeding, empty hole and he didn't know WHY.  
  
   For a long time, nothing happened.  He started to shake in terrified anticipation, and the fear of being punished for even that little movement just made him tremble even harder.  
  
   When the first image finally flashed in front of his eyes, he nearly passed out in relief.  Instead of the horrors he expected, all he saw was... Zack.  
  
   The image of the SOLDIER completely filled his vision, but he still managed to pick out a few details of Zack's surroundings.  Looking amazingly at ease for a prisoner, the major sat on a cot in a spartan, but roomy cell that looked like a weird zoo exhibit.  One wall of the cell was completely transparent, while the rest of the walls were painted an oddly soothing shade of blue.  The SOLDIER looked a bit on the thin and pale side, like he had been recovering from some sort of extended illness.  Suddenly he saw Zack glance upward toward the clear wall although he couldn't see what had attracted the SOLDIER's attention.  
  
   Through the headphones, Zack's calm, confident voice filled his ears as the SOLDIER said, "I'm doing as well as can be expected, given the circumstances," and gestured casually at his surroundings.  
  
   There was a brief silence, then Zack added, "You're wasting your time.  I've already told Hojo all that I'm going to."  Another pause.  "I don't care if he believes me or not.  He can take it or leave it."  
  
   Zack was clearly talking TO someone.  But who?  He couldn't hear or see anyone else.  Confused, bewildered, he allowed his concentration to wander and ended up missing the next few sentences of the one-sided conversation.  
  
   In a cold panic, he wrenched his attention back to the scene before him, desperately trying to memorize every detail of Zack's speech and behavior.  He HAD to.  If he couldn't answer the doctor's questions correctly, he would be punished horribly.  
  
   The interrogation seemed to go on forever as Zack remained calmly, but thoroughly uncooperative.  As he eavesdropped on the seeming endless conversation, he began to whimper helplessly behind the gag.  How could he possibly remember all this?  Again his attention wavered and again several of Zack's sentences slipped by.  
  
   When the visor finally went dark and the headphones fell silent, he sagged limply in relief.  His head felt so strange and tight, as if it was an overfilled balloon ready to explode.  He found himself repeating bits and pieces of Zack's conversation to himself in a desperate attempt to memorize as much as he could.  
  
   As his imprisoned head lolled heavily from side to side, he vaguely felt a sting in his thigh.  An injection of god-knows-what, but he couldn't find the energy to care.  
  
   Then it started again.  The images of Zack, and nothing else.  The sound of Zack's voice, and nothing else.  And every time he thought and hoped the whole thing was over, there was always more.  More things to pay attention to.  More things to memorize, just in case the doctor questioned him.  But somewhere around the ninth or tenth conversation, he simply couldn't concentrate any more.  
  
   The doctor was right.  This wasn't painful like the earlier treatments.  But in a way, it was *worse* as merciless flood of information poured relentlessly into his skull, through his clamped-open eyes and through his unprotected ears.  
  
   He was drowning in Zack.  
  
   An eternity later, someone lifted off the metal visor.  But even with it gone, the images of Zack still danced across his vision, scenes more real to him than the laboratory around him.  He could see every flicker of expression, every gesture, all the little nuances of Zack's body language which were becoming more familiar to him than his own.  
  
   It was the same with the voice.  As soon as the gag was removed, disjointed words and phrases tumbled helplessly out of his mouth.  Zack's words, in Zack's voice, for he had no words or voice of his own.  Or at least none that he could remember.  
  
   Cold fingers gripped his chin tightly.  A not-Zack voice said something to him, but it was meaningless to him.  Anything that was not-Zack was simply incomprehensible.  
  
   "And how are you feeling, Cloud?"  
  
   Gibberish.  Sheer gibberish.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   "Orienne, I really don't see what this is supposed to accomplish.  He sounds like a brain-damaged parrot!" Dr. Stephen complained.  
  
   "Oh, you're quite right, Lawrence.  This is just mindless mimicry," she responded absently as she leaned closer to examine Cloud's glazed, hugely dilated eyes.  
  
   "So what's the point?  
  
   "I'm testing his receptiveness," was her rather cryptic reply.  
  
   "Whatever THAT means.  And what if Dr. Hojo finds out about these experiments of yours?" he demanded.  
  
   "My research has been fully approved by President Shinra.  Hojo can play the scientific prima donna all he wants, but he's still an employee of Shinra.  Besides, Hojo's fully occupied with his own little projects.  Who's going tell him about mine?  Not me.  Nor you, I would sincerely hope.  He certainly won't find out from our little Cloud here.  At the moment, he's barely aware of his own existence or identity."  
  
   "All right, all right.  But would you mind explaining why are you spending so much time on this little experiment of yours?"  
  
   "What, are you feeling neglected, Lawrence?" she murmured with a provocative little smile.  
  
   "That's not the point.  We're both scientists and I admire your dedication to your research.  What I don't understand is why you seem so enthusiastic about torturing this poor sod out of his mind!"  
  
   "Don't tell me you're feeling sorry for him," she replied with a mock-gasp of shock.  
  
   "Sorry, for this worthless little runt?  Hardly!" Stephen retorted with an angry snort.  "It just seems like a big waste of time.  You've already got him totally broken.  The guards tell me that just hearing their footsteps in the hallway is enough to make the poor bastard wet himself."  
  
   "I know," Roissy said in a distracted voice as she jotted down some notes on a clipboard.  
  
   "Then why continue with these treatments?  And what's with making him watch all these surveillance videos of Major Faelan?"  He stopped abruptly, then exclaimed, "Don't tell me you're somehow trying to brainwash him into believing he's Faelan!"  
  
   She smiled down at the twitching, incoherently babbling young man strapped in the chair and said, "I'm not interested in a shoddy, brainwashed copy of a SOLDIER."  
  
   "Then what the hell ARE you interested in!?" he exploded in exasperation.  
  
   "What I want...," Roissy reached out and ran her fingers possessively through Cloud's sweat-soaked hair, "is to see the genuine Zackary Faelan looking back at me out of these pretty blue eyes."  
  
   Stephen scowled angrily.  "But why?  I would like to point out that you've already GOT the real thing locked up in a security cell four floors below us."  
  
   Roissy threw back her head and laughed.  "Oh Lawrence, your problem is that you lack true vision.  And my idiot sister Montessi is even worse!  Can't you comprehend what I'm trying to achieve here?  I want the real thing, in THIS body.  Because when I'm through with him, Cloud won't merely think he's Zackary Faelan.  He will BE Zackary Faelan.  There's a subtle, but profound distinction.  Try to appreciate it."  
  
   As Dr. Roissy picked up a cloth and wiped away the drool on Cloud's chin with a proprietary air, she continued, "It's much more than just the transfer of a few memories or even physical skills.  I'm talking about the very essence of an individual.  I can make him BECOME Zack -- heart, mind, and soul, if you want to use get metaphysical about it.  Only the physical body will be different.  Do you understand the implications of that accomplishment, Lawrence?"  
  
   "Like what?" he grumbled sulkily.  
  
   She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "For starters, how about the creation of the next generation of SOLDIER, my love?"  
  
   He reared back in astonishment and blurted, "What!?"  
  
   Roissy gave him a smug little smile.    
  
   "There's no question that the SOLDIER project has been a success, Lawrence.  However, the present version does have some fairly significant limitations.  You know the basic dilemma.  The selection process is a constant series of compromises because of the need to find candidates that can both physically tolerate the process AND mentally cope with the resulting changes."  
  
   "Yes, yes, I know all that already!" he said impatiently.  
  
   "Now bear with me, Lawrence.  Each living thing has a different physical tolerance for Mako exposure.  It can adapt to a certain point, but no further, and that point is a near absolute limit.  Once that threshold is exceeded, creatures undergo gross physical and mental changes.  In short, the Mako treatments no longer enhance, but instead destroy the subject.  This physical limit usually is not an issue because most people would go insane long before that threshold is reached. However, there are a few rare individuals for whom the physical, not the psychological, is the limiting factor."  
  
   "You're talking about Faelan."  
  
   "That's right.  Mentally speaking, he's a nearly perfect choice.  Strong-willed, yet adaptable.  Focused and disciplined, without being narrow-minded or obsessive.  Confident, yet realistic and level-headed.  Those are the mental and emotional traits that cope well with the trauma and changes associated with Mako exposure.  Unfortunately, his physical tolerance for Mako exposure is actually only moderately higher than average."  
  
   "But his performance ratings have always been at the very top of the scale!"  
  
   "Zack's degree of physical modification may not be as great as others, but he excels at making the most out of what he has.  Imagine what he could do if his body could have tolerated even greater levels of enhancement.  But to get back to the point, his body has already reached its physical limits.  Subjecting him to any additional Mako treatments will almost certainly kill him.  That's why he's taken so long to recover from that case of Mako poisoning he received in the Mt. Nibel reactor."  
  
   Roissy pointed at Cloud and continued, "Now his case is almost the reverse of Zack's.  Our tests indicate that Cloud here has an almost freakishly high physical tolerance for Mako.  However, mentally speaking, he's utterly unsuitable -- weak, emotionally insecure, and mentally unstable.  Putting him through extensive Mako treatments would certainly drive him stark raving mad.  Not that it would be a great loss to anyone," she added with a careless shrug.  
  
   "I still don't...."  
  
   She sighed impatiently, then said, "We already have the basic knowledge to create a near perfect body.  Think about it -- a body that are capable of surviving and regenerating from almost any physical injury, one that's superhumanly healthy, strong, and agile.  But no one's bothered to fully explore the true limits of that technology because an insane combatant, no matter how strong or fast, has only limited practical use.  
  
   "So that has always been the limitation in creating SOLDIERs -- the constantly conflicting requirements of mental and physical suitability.  But what if we can separate those requirements?  What if we could choose candidates based solely on their mental resilience OR their physical tolerance, and not worry about both?"  
  
   "And then what?" Stephen said, now starting to look interested in spite of himself.  
  
   "Combine a body enhanced to its fullest potential with an extremely strong and resilient mind, and what do you get?  Maximum performance.  In short, the next generation of SOLDIER.  A super-SOLDIER."  
  
   "And how on earth do you propose to do that!?"  
  
   "By transferring the mind of one individual into the body of another, of course," she replied blandly, as if it was the most obvious concept in the world.    
  
   "Is... is that possible, Orienne?" Stephen said, looking both fascinated and rather skeptical.  
  
   "I've already tested the basic theory on rats, dogs, and lower primates, and it's worked.  Now I'm ready to try the procedure on a human subject."  
  
   "Are you suggesting...?"  
  
   "Why allow Cloud's physical potential go to waste simply because of his useless psyche?  With him, we have a perfect opportunity to test the very limits of our ability to enhance the human body's performance.  As for his mind...."  She shrugged eloquently.  "It's very unlikely that it will survive the augmented enhancement procedure intact.  In fact, it's more convenient for our purposes if it doesn't.  It'll make the process of flushing out his mind, and replacing it with a superior one that much easier."  
  
   "My god, Orienne!  So you're planning to transfer FAELAN's mind into...!"  
  
   "That's right."  She patted his cheek like an approving school teacher.  
  
   "How do you plan to accomplish that?  Don't tell me you're planning to transplant brains or something like that!"  
  
   Roissy waved her hand dismissively.  "No no no.  That would never work in this case.  A Mako-enhanced immune system would be certain to reject such large scale tissue transplants."  She gave him another of her smug little smiles.  "I'll be using a more subtle approach.  Instead of a gross transplant, I will be employing a very small amount of a very specific type of cell -- cells that I know WON'T be rejected by the host body."  
  
   "And they are...?"  
  
   She smiled triumphantly.  "Jenova cells.  Lawrence, darling, haven't you been keeping up with the weekly lab briefings?  When you extract Jenova cells from one creature -- call it the donor -- and inject those cells into another creature -- call it the recipient or host -- a mental link forms between the two individuals.  The strength of the link depends on how many Jenova cells are transferred, the mental strength of the donor, how much the Jenova cells have already adapted to the donor, and various other factors, but you get the general idea."   
  
   "A mental link?  That sounds extremely dangerous, especially when you consider that the person on one side of that link is probably going to be mentally unstable, if not outright insane!  We're liable to end up with two crazy people instead of just one!"  
  
   Roissy looked stunningly beautiful, her face delicately flushed and her eyes glittering with excitement as she responded to his objection.   
  
   "Ah, but that's one of the most interesting part of this phenomena.  The mental connection is almost entirely one-way, from the donor to the recipient.  That's the beauty of it.  The donor's thoughts and emotions flow into the recipient's mind, but not the other way around.  There is some minor feedback and leakage issues, but in most situations, they're negligible.  Once the link between the two minds is established, the neural information will passed from the donor to the host body and become imprinted there."  
  
   "Imprinted?  Permanently?"  
  
   She said acidly, "The mind transfer wouldn't be of much use if it isn't permanent, would it?  Yes, the alteration in thought processes is permanent, you dolt! I'm sure you're well aware that Jenova cells can alter their structure and the structure of neighboring cells in response to a sufficiently strong mental stimulus...!"  
  
   Flinging up his hands, Stephen hastily said, "All right, Orienne.  Calm down.  I'm not trying to insult you.  I was just curious.  Major Faelan's body already contains Jenova cells from the SOLDIER process, so you're going extract some of those cells and inject them into Strife, right?"  
  
   "Correct.  But the neural transfer won't be instantaneous.  Instead of a flood, it will be more like a slow, persistent trickle of information.  Rather like being subjected to a neverending stream of subliminal messages.  Since we're only in the experimental stages, I'm disinclined to rush matters.  Besides, a conservative approach will give us more opportunity for detailed observation.  We can work on accelerating the process later, if necessary.  Besides, I think a more gradual transfer would be more effective."  
  
   "Just like water wearing away a rock, eh?"  
  
   "More like water washing away mud, in this case, given the relative strengths of Zack's and Cloud's minds, but that's the general principle.  Cloud won't stand a chance, especially after I've finished preparing him," she said, gazing down at her experimental subject with a faint smile.  
  
   "That's the whole purpose of the current series of experiments and treatments, Lawrence.  I'm not torturing Cloud for my own amusement.  I'm simply making his mind more... receptive... before the real transfer process begins.  And once he's in a suitably sensitized state, Cloud won't be able to put up any resistance to the flow of thoughts, memories, and emotions from Faelan's mind.  Really, I'm simply doing what any competent cook would do when faced with a cheap piece of meat -- tenderizing it."  
  
   Stephen winced, and muttered, "Well, that's one way of putting it.  So... you're counting on Faelan's personality totally dominating, and eventually rewriting Strife's much weaker mind."  
  
   "You don't think so?" she said, raising a delicate eyebrow.  "Are you suggesting that my theory is WRONG?"  
  
   Recognizing the danger signs, he quickly said, "I'm not doubting you!  But how on earth are you going to make Faelan cooperate with this experiment?"  
  
   "Cooperate?  On the contrary, Lawrence!  I'll be spending a good deal of effort to prevent Zack from discovering what I'm doing.  For one thing, it's the perfect way to test the one-way nature of the mental link.  And if he discovers the purpose of this experiment, I wouldn't put it past Faelan to figure out a way to sabotage it."  
  
   Stephen said with a sneer, "Oh, come on!  He's been our prisoner for months and he hasn't even made a serious attempt to escape in all that time!  I think you're worrying over nothing.  I swear you're getting carried away with that fancy SOLDIER mystique!"  
  
   She stared at him, her eyes narrowing ominously, then slammed her hand down on a nearby console.  
  
   "Don't you dare underestimate Faelan's determination OR his patience!  He's just waiting for the right moment to act.  And for your information, he hasn't tried to escape YET because: (1) he's been recovering from the near fatal injuries and Mako poisoning he received in that last fight with Sephiroth; and (2) we've been using the most stringent security measures I could think of to contain him!  We can't afford to become complacent!  A little slip up, a few seconds of carelessness, and you'll soon see just how *harmless* he is!"  
  
   "If he's so damn dangerous, then why the hell are you using him, of all people, in your experiment!?  Why not you, or me, or one of the other scientists here?"  
  
   She glared at him so furiously that Stephen nervously retreated a few steps to avoid a possible slap.  
  
   "Haven't you been paying any attention to what I've been saying?  I told you that only a very special sort of mind can handle the effects of the proposed augmented Mako treatments without going insane, much less being able to take full advantage of it!  If you think that possessing a moderately high IQ and a few academic degrees makes you qualified, you're dead wrong!  A person needs a strong personality, emotional resilience, AND extraordinary mental strength, not to mention a terrific will to survive.  I'm not ashamed to admit that *I* don't have what it takes to do it!  And before you say anything, I know that you don't, either!"  
  
   Stephen scowled and muttered petulantly, "You don't know that."  
  
   She sneered and said with poisonous sweetness, "Lawrence, dear, you had enough problems dealing with a barely sprained ankle.  Weren't you the one constantly whining about how much it hurt and yelling for painkillers?"  
  
   "Now wait a moment...."  
  
   "So tell me. What are you going to do when every nerve in your body burns?  When every bone feels broken, every muscle torn?  What about the overwhelming barrage of new and strange sensory information?  Look at you!  The mere description of the experience is enough to make you nauseous!  
  
   "And what about afterwards?  Do you have the mental discipline to remain calm and focused, instead of becoming totally intoxicated and carried away with all your newfound physical powers?"  
  
   "All right, all right!  You've made your point!" he shouted in a mixture of embarrassment and anger.  
     
   "Aside from being the best suited to handle such an extensively modified physique from a mental standpoint, there are several additional reasons for selecting Faelan that I should make perfectly clear to you," she continued relentlessly, ticking off points on her perfectly manicured fingers.     
  
   "Secondly, Faelan's body has adapted extremely well to the Mako and Jenova cell treatments used in the SOLDIER process.  That means that once we've injected Strife with Jenova cells extracted from Faelan's body, the resulting mental connection should be correspondingly strong.  
  
   "And last, but not least, he's expendable.  Because the only real way to determine if the mental transfer has worked as intended is to kill the original mind-donor.  And while there are some scientists who might be willing to risk death for the sake of their research, personally, I am not."  
  
   "Fine, have it your way!  I can see that you've already made up your mind about all this.  Do whatever you like, Orienne!  You always do, anyway!"  
  
   In one of her mercurial changes of mood, she gave him a coquettish glance and said, "My, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous of the good major."  
  
   Stephen huffed and blustered, "That's ridiculous!  Me, be jealous of some muscle-bound thug!?"  
  
   She nibbled on a long fingernail and said thoughtfully, "I'll admit he's muscular, but hardly muscle-bound.  And definitely not a mere thug.  Anyone who's managed to serve as Sephiroth's second-in-command for over three years has to have considerably better than average brains."  Roissy shot him a faintly malicious look.  "I know for a fact that his IQ is quite a bit higher than yours, Lawrence."  
  
   "What-ever," he said sullenly.  
  
   She smiled hungrily, then suddenly grabbed the lapels of his labcoat and pulled him close.  
  
   "Come on.  Kiss me."  
  
   "Wha...?" he sputtered in surprise.  
  
   "You heard me! Kiss me!"  
  
   "Here!?  Now!?"  
  
   "Why not here?  And why not now?"  
  
   "Well... because!"  
  
   "Come on, don't be a prude."  She nibbled at his throat, then licked at his Adam's apple as it bobbed up and down uncertainly.  
  
   "You... you want to do THAT... with HIM around?" Stephen protested feebly.  
  
   She shrugged carelessly.  "Why not?  It's not like poor little Cloud's in any position to complain."  
  
   "But... but... I mean, he's watching!"  He waved a hand at the young man lying limp in the chair, his glazed eyes still mercilessly clamped wide open.  
  
   Orienne Roissy snorted, tossed her long hair in exasperation, and said,  "Well, if that's what's bothering you, I know how to fix that problem."  
  
   She picked up the heavy metal helmet, then smiled down benevolently at Cloud.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   Cool fingers brushed his cheek.  A soft laugh.  
  
   "I do believe he's crying."  
  
   "Oh, for God's sake, Orienne!"  
  
   Cold.  Why were her perfectly manicured hands always so fucking cold?  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   "If you're that worried about performing before an audience, then I have the perfect way to keep him busy."  With those words, Orienne Roissy crammed the bulky helmet back down on Cloud's head.  The horrified young man screamed... or at least tried his best before Roissy deftly reinserted the gag into his mouth.  
  
   As Cloud squealed and writhed futilely in his straps, the doctor turned to a nearby console and nudged several of the sliders up a few notches.  
  
   "A few hours should be sufficient," Roissy said as she set the timer.  Turning back to Stephen, she dusted off her hands and said cheerfully, "See?  No more inconvenient audience."  
  
   She kicked off her high-heeled pumps and slinked up to her lover.  As she slowly unknotted his tie, she purred, "Now, where were we...?"  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   Most of Cloud's mind was utterly caught up by the renewed sensory assault, but not all of it.    
  
   A part of his mind heard every word of Roissy's and Stephen's conversation.  
  
   Heard and understood it.  
  
   Heard and hated it.  
  
   Then again, that particular part of Cloud already had lots of practice.    
  
   It hated everyone who ignored him, starting with his idiot of a mother.    
  
   It hated everyone who laughed at him and treated him as worthless.    
  
   It hated all the people who insulted and humiliated him.  
  
   It hated the ones who dared to torment, hurt, and abuse him.    
  
   It hated the people who had the things that he wanted AND deserved.    
  
   It hated every single living thing that had the unforgivable nerve to be happy while he was so miserable.  
  
   It hated them ALL.  
  
   But the bitch Roissy and that asshole Stephen had just jumped to the top of Cloud's personal hate list.  They wanted to erase his identity -- throw him away just like a piece of worthless trash.  All they wanted was his body.  And to add insult to injury, they were going to steal his body and to give it to ZACK, of all people.  Zack, who already had everything that Cloud had ever desired -- strength, confidence, fame, glory, and most of all, RESPECT.     
  
   And now Zack was going to get the very last thing Cloud could ever call his own?  
  
   No way.  No FUCKING way.  
  
   This was HIS body and no one was going to take it away from him.  Especially not Mr. Perfect Hotshot everybody-likes-him SOLDIER First Class Zack....  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   Zack watched as the guard supervisor approached the clear wall of his new cell.  Jerome Stilton knew his job and how to keep his men in line.  The SOLDIER didn't make the mistake of underestimating Stilton's competence, so he paid close attention to the man's words.  
  
   "Okay, Major.  This is how it goes.  We all know about the badass rep of you SOLDIERs, First Class.  We also know you can make life around here a real pain in an ass for everyone if you've got a mind to do so.  However, let's make this perfectly clear -- you're not going anywhere.  So a little cooperation will go a long way and save me and my boys lots of wear and tear."  
  
   "I like to consider myself a reasonable man, so I'm listening," Zack replied in deceptively amiable tones.  
  
   "You get all the basics.  Three hot meals a day.  A clean cell.  Every day, if the docs aren't doing anything with you, you get two hours in the exercise room.  Just head through the sliding door that will open automatically.  There's some basic gear -- weights, a treadmill, that sort of stuff.  You'll also take your showers in there.  You want anything else, like stuff to read, you let the guards or the docs know.  If you ask nicely and behave, you might get it."  
  
   "Okay.  Sounds pretty straightforward so far.  What happens if I don't do as I'm told?"  
  
   "Going to the exercise room is up to you.  But everything else is not an option.  If you don't cooperate, we'll sedate you and take you wherever you need to go."  
  
   Zack leaned up against the back wall.  "And I bet that these doctors know exactly how to incapacitate a SOLDIER like me, right?"  
  
   "Yeah.  You're a smart guy.  And if you think that you're going to grab somebody and use them as a hostage or a way to escape, it won't work.  There's going to be no physical contact between guards and the prisoner, unless you're in full restraints.  You don't go ANYWHERE except the exercise room unless you're in full restraints."  
  
   "Ah, let me guess.  Whenever anyone needs to come into my cell, you're going to knock me out first, then stuff me into a full body straitjacket or something like that.  Right?"  
  
   "Got it in one."  
  
   Zack sighed.  Sometimes a formidable, kickass reputation could be damn inconvenient.  He then said, "Go on."  
  
   "We'll use the security lock to pass you your food and anything else."  The guard supervisor patted the sturdy box-like device installed near one edge of the front wall.  
  
   Zack glanced around his new cell.  It was plain, but still fairly comfortable, if one was into the ascetic sort of lifestyle.  Like most prison cells, it contained the basics -- a cot, sink, and toilet, all securely bolted into the walls.  The cell also contained a chair and small table, both made of deliberately flimsy material.  
  
   "And I suppose that I get absolutely, positively no privacy."  
  
   "Nope.  This wall can be either transparent or one-way opaque,"  Stilton demonstrated with a flick of a switch, "which means that anyone can look at you, but you can't always look at them.  Also, you and every inch of your cell are going to be monitored 24/7."  
  
   "Cameras, microphones, the whole surveillance shebang, huh?"  Zack glanced again at the exposed toilet, then said with a wry grin, "then I guess it's lucky that I'm not an overly modest sort of person."  
  
   The supervisor shrugged.  "That's the way it goes.  Just to let you know.  The docs plan on keeping a real close eye on you."   
  
   "Thanks for the warning."  Zack meant that sincerely.  That last bit of information has been purely optional, a little courtesy between two professionals.  
  
   Well, it seemed that the scientists around here were going to continue to treat him like a very valuable, but very dangerous zoo specimen.  Aside from the occasional minor testing, they had taken a hands-off approach to his confinement.  Now, from what Stilton said, the scientists were making extraordinary efforts to keep him healthy, both physically and mentally, for an extended period of time.  And if they were taking all this trouble to set up tolerably decent living conditions for him, it seemed quite unlikely that he was going to be dissected, tortured, or grossly experimented on any time soon.  It was a reassuring, yet worrisome thought.    
  
   Why?  
  
   After all, they were giving him decent food, a clean place to sleep, room to exercise, and a few books and things to occupy his time.  All the basic requirements of life... except freedom.  
  
   (Just about the only thing they haven't thoughtfully offered me is a mate....)  
  
   But sure enough, a few days later, one of the guard tapped on the clear wall of his cell and asked Zack if he was interested in having someone to fuck.  
  
   The guard didn't use those exact words, of course.  Instead, he had unfolded a piece of paper and read off some incredibly stilted question about sexual relief.  But 'someone to fuck' was what it basically boiled down to.  
  
   Zack flopped back on his cot and started to snicker uncontrollably.  The guard looked rather embarrassed, but eventually ended up chuckling also when the two of them started exchanging dirty jokes about prissy, anal retentive scientists.  
  
   But when he finally managed to get his laughter under control, Zack politely declined the offer.  
  
--------------------------------------  
     
   [ N months later ]  
  
   Cloud was living in a very particular sort of hell.  
  
   Recently, his life consisted of a series of narrow clear cylinders.  Sometimes the cylinders were full of glowing green liquid that burned and oozed its way into his flesh and bone.  Sometimes they were dry, a tiny stifling cell with barely enough room to sit, much less lie down.    
  
   But regardless of whether the cells were wet or dry, full or empty, they were always surrounded by large panel monitors, so no matter where he looked, he would see only one thing.  
  
   Zack.  
  
   And if that wasn't bad enough, there were the damn speakers.  
  
   He could hear every sound Zack made with brutal, inescapable clarity.   
  
   First, it was just the common sorts of sounds -- Zack's voice, his footsteps, the rustle of bedsheets, the clink of flatware on plates....  Between the sensitivity of the microphones in Zack's cell, the volume of the speakers in his own cell, AND his painfully sensitive hearing, the constant auditory onslaught was almost unbearable.  But things soon got even worse.  
  
   Next, he started to pick up the sound of Zack's breathing....  
  
   Inhale.  Exhale.  Inhale.  Exhale.  In.  Out.  In.  Out.   
  
   ....and now he swore he could hear Zack's every heartbeat.  
  
   Thumpety-thump.  Thumpety-thump.  Thumpety-thump.  Thumpety-thump.  
  
   There was no escape from the merciless barrage of sight and sound.  Closing his eyes wasn't allowed -- the electrical shocks soon taught him that.  Covering his ears -- when he could actually move, that is -- did nothing to block out the noise.  He couldn't even try to drown out the noise by screaming or shouting, because they had taken his voice away months ago.  And now, he was no longer sure if he could remember what his own voice sounded like.  
  
   But the most terrifying moment had came when he realized that he was starting to match Zack not only breath for breath, but heartbeat for heartbeat, for minutes or even hours, at a time.    
  
   And no matter how hard he tried, Cloud couldn't make that terrible, relentless synchronicity stop.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   [ P months later ]  
  
   "I'll take two."  
  
   The pudgy guard slid two playing cards into the narrow security lock of Zack's cell.  The lock allowed the guards to pass small items like food or books into the cell while avoiding the risk of direct contact with their very dangerous prisoner.  
  
   The SOLDIER picked up his new cards, then said with a lazy grin, "I'll call, and raise you a hundred."    
  
   On the other side of the cell wall, the pudgy guard obligingly moved some chips from Zack's pile into the pot.  One of the other guards scowled at his cards, then scratched his balding head before finally tossing his cards down in disgust.   
  
   "Shit, I'm out."  
  
   Zack glanced at the other two guards.  The younger one smirked back and threw some poker chips into the growing pile on the table drawn up right next to Zack's cell.  The pudgy guard did the same, but looked considerably less confident.  
  
   "Okay, show 'em, Zack."  
  
   His grin widened as he fanned out his cards for the three guards to see.  
  
   "Oh fuck, not again!" the younger guard groaned in disgust, sagging back into his chair.  
  
   The pudgy guard sighed and added the pot to Zack's massive stack of chips.  
  
   "Another hand?" Zack said.  
  
   The pudgy guard gathered up the others' cards, then grimaced as he glanced at his watch.  
  
   "Sorry, no can do, Zack.  Hojo supposed to be arriving soon."  The guard tossed the rest of the playing deck into the cell's security lock and started to move the table back to its proper place.   
  
   "Really?  It's been... what, four months since he was last here.  And here I was starting to think he didn't like me any more," Zack said with a mocking chuckle.  
  
   The balding guard said, "Gotta admire your balls, SOLDIER boy.  That man totally creeps me out," and shivered expressively.  
  
   Zack shrugged carelessly as he shuffled the card deck.  Even after the guards left, he kept the same slightly bored expression on his face, always aware of the constant surveillance.  
  
   It hadn't taken much effort to get on the good side of the guards.  The scientists and lab techs were intellectual snobs, treating the guards like brainless lackeys and henchmen.  Well, the guards were the scientists' lackeys and some of the guards were close to brainless, but nobody liked to have their faces ground in the truth.  It was no wonder that a little sympathy and his willingness to listen to their gripes was all he needed.    
  
   Zack didn't expect the guards to help him escape, but at least they were willing to talk freely with him.  And from their idle gossip during their semi-regular poker games, Zack had picked up a whole array of useful information, both about the Nibelheim lab and in the outside world.  It had been a casual comment from one of his guards that told Zack that he hadn't been the only survivor of Nibelheim.  
  
   And now Hojo was back in Nibelheim again.    
  
   During Zack's first few months of captivity, Hojo had interrogated Zack relentlessly about the entire Nibelheim incident in an attempt to figure out what had gone wrong with Sephiroth.  But even if Zack had known what happened to his friend -- and he didn't -- Hojo would be the absolutely last person that he would tell.    
  
   However, in recent months, Hojo had gradually shifted from asking questions to boasting or ranting about his research projects, depending on his progress or lack thereof.  God, how that man loved to talk!  
  
   Zack didn't know why Hojo felt this weird compulsion to talk to, or rather, AT him, but he was more than happy to encourage the scientist to ramble freely.  One never knew when a certain tidbit of information might prove to be useful and he had already learned quite a bit about Hojo's various Jenova-related projects.  
  
   Zack sat down on his cot and waited patiently.  Sooner or later, Hojo would come down to talk to him and Zack would be ready to listen.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
   [ Q months later ]  
  
   Cloud was pathetic.  Weak.  Spineless.    
  
   All it took was the threat of a little punishment and Cloud was ready to cooperate with those scientist bitches.  The traitorous little bastard.  Those bitches were trying to steal his body and the stupid prick was helping them because he was scared of a little pain.  
  
   Well, Cloud might be willing to cower and roll over like a whipped dog, but not HIM.  
  
   HE was different.  
  
   While Cloud did nothing when others pissed on him, HE was the one dared to hate them back, the one who dared to hurt them back for all the insults and humiliation suffered.  That asshole Beddoes who laughed at him, the whore who had the nerve to get him arrested... HE, not Cloud, was the one who made them pay.  
  
   Let the bitches do what they want to Cloud, that worthless little shit.    
  
   Unlike Cloud, HE would survive, because he was strong  
  
   Nobody was going to erase HIM.  Not the bitches.  Not Zack.  Not Cloud.  
  
   Cloud was ready to give up and let Zack have his body, just to escape the pain.  Well, if Cloud didn't want his own fucking body any more, HE certainly did.  
  
   And when one really thought about it, Cloud was nothing more than a damn freeloader.  After all, HE was the person doing all the work.  
  
   Because unlike Cloud, HE was more than ready to fight for what he wanted.  HE deserved to have a physical body, after putting up with and taking care of that miserable, whining little asshole for so long.  HE was doing all the dirty stuff, so why shouldn't HE be the one in control all the time, instead of Cloud?  Let Cloud spend the rest of his life locked up in a dirty little corner of HIS head instead of the other way around.  
  
   HE wanted... no, DESERVED to have Cloud's body.  
  
   Not Cloud.  Not Zack.  
  
   HIM.  
  
   Strife.  
  
--------------------------------------  
(end Part 1)  
     
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   My youth is wasted - I'm evasive and vague.  
   I'm a headless beast - I'm a subtle plague.  
   I'm a cheatin' liar - I am naked terror.  
   I hurt - I wound - I'm a fatal error.  
  
   I don't make sense - I got my pride!  
   Don't need no meaning - I feel no shame!  
   I will not believe - I got no choice!  
   I'm out of control - And I love it!  
  
       -- "Beast" by KMFDM  
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
=====================================================================  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
Keeper of Duo's Dark Side ~~~ Duo no Seishi  
Saitoh no Koibito ~~~ Corruptor Extraordinaire  
-------------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com              /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E  
http://www.madamhydra.net/  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
======================================================================  
The Full Disclaimer:  
   All names, likenesses, and rights of Final Fantasy VII and its characters are trademarks, copyright, and property of Square Co., Ltd. and legally associated parties.  The characters and associated materials of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only.  The author of this work claims no ownership, part or whole, of the original plot and characters.  This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.    
   All original portions of this work is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author Madamhydra.  No part of this work is to be reproduced, altered, or adapted in any way without the author's express permission.  
  
======================================================================  



	12. A Minor Inconvenience sidestory

Completed: 01/20/2003  
Last modified: 03/02/2003  
  
C&C always appreciated!   ^_^  
  
SUMMARY:  President Shinra resolves a minor domestic crisis.  
  
Title: Conflicts of Interest: A Minor Inconvenience  
Author: Madamhydra  
Email: madamhydra@aol.com  
Status:  WIP (work-in-progress)  
Archive:  www.madamhydra.net, fanfiction.net  
Type: Continuation - Alternate Reality  
Rating: PG-13   
  
********* ********* ******** WARNINGS ******** ********* *********  
  
   Spoilers for future parts of COI  
  
********* ********* ******** ******** ******** ********* *********  
  
Disclaimer: (Full Disclaimers at the end) Final Fantasy VII is the copyright and property of its creators and legally associated parties.  Used without permission.  Not for profit.  
  
======================================================================  
   CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: A Minor Inconvenience  
       A Final Fantasy VII sidestory by Madamhydra  
======================================================================  
  
    [ 22 years ago.... ]   
  
"Get rid of her.  I don't care how.  Just do it."  The beautiful blond woman folded her arms and stared grimly at her husband.  
  
"Darling, there's no need for you to...," the burly man began in soothing tones.  
  
She interrupted coldly, "I'm tired of her childish tantrums.  She goes.  Now."  
  
"Naturally, my dear, but please allow me to handle this my way."  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
"But... but I don't want to go!  I don't want to leave you!"  Tears started to pour down the young, blond-haired woman's face.  
  
"My dear Bliss, I'm afraid that in light of your present condition, you simply cannot keep your present job, nor can you remain in Midgar."  President Shinra watched his weeping ex-mistress -- and soon to be ex-secretary -- with a slight frown.  
  
Clutching a damp handkerchief, she said, "But... but afterward... can I come back?"  
  
"Perhaps, but not immediately.  Surely, you must understand the awkwardness of the situation."  
  
"Yes, but...."  
  
"Strive for some patience, Bliss."  
  
"Patience!  But you're not the one who has to sit around for eight more months, getting fatter and uglier by the day!"  
  
He gave her a cool, hard stare.  "I gave you another option, but you were the one who insisted on going through with this pregnancy."    
  
"I know, but...."  She hesitated, bit her lip, then whispered, "So... if I get rid of it, will you let me stay?"  She stared up at him, her blue eyes full of desperate hope.  "I mean, no more baby, no more problem, right?"  
  
He got up and began to stroll around the room, hands clasped behind his back.  
  
"I wish that the solution was so easy.  In fact, it would've been that easy if you'd been more discrete.  Unfortunately, you chose to confront your sister directly.  Well, at least you didn't do it in public."  
  
She twisted and wrung her handkerchief.  "It's just that I....  Oh, why can't you understand!?  Felicity always acts so damn smug and superior.  For once -- just once! -- I wanted to show her that I was the better woman!"  
  
"So you practically threw your pregnancy in her face.  And then to make matters even worse, you boasted that I was going to divorce her and marry you," he said sternly.  
  
She flinched, then blurted, "I'm sorry!  I'm sorry, okay?  I just got a little carried away!  I wasn't thinking straight!  I was so happy and I thought that you would be, too!  I thought... I thought you loved me!"  
  
"I never made you any promises of that sort, Bliss.  On the contrary, YOU were the one who made promises to ME about no complications. Or have you conveniently forgotten that conversation?"  
  
With a sob, she cried, "I know, I know, but I did it because I loved you!  I *knew* I could do what Felicity couldn't -- give you a son!  Your heir!  And it would've worked, except she had to go and ruin everything by finally getting pregnant herself!"  She choked out a forced laugh.  "Hah!  I bet it isn't even yours!"  
  
"Oh, it's mine, just like I know the child you're carrying is mine as well.  DNA paternity tests are a wonderful thing, aren't they?"  Shinra gave her a cold, thin-lipped smile.  "I don't leave things like this up to chance and your sister knows it.  Felicity is no fool."  
  
She flushed deeply, sensing the implied criticism, and looked away.  
  
He sighed.  "Well, let's put all that aside and deal with the situation at hand."  
  
In a sullen voice, she muttered, "So you're punishing me by sending me away."  
  
"It's not a matter of punishment at all.  I'm just trying to do what's best for everyone.  Now that Felicity's finally pregnant again... well, the doctors say that any additional emotional stress or upset could trigger on another miscarriage."  
  
Bliss stamped her high-heeled shoes against the floor like an angry child.  "Felicity, Felicity!  It's always about Felicity!  What about ME!?  Why doesn't anyone care about ME!?"  
  
"I am thinking about you.  Really, it's clear this city life is too much for someone of your sensitive nature.  What you need is some peace and quiet."  
  
"What I need is YOU!" she shouted, lunging at him and clutching at his suit lapels.  "That's all I ever wanted!"  
  
He firmly pried her fingers loose and held her away.  "Well, you can't have me, and it's all your own fault."  He dropped her into a chair and said, "You'll be leaving tomorrow, so you'd better start packing.  I'll make all the necessary arrangements.  You'll be taken care of, whether you choose to keep the baby or not."  
  
In a brief flash of spirit, she hissed, "How could you think...!?  It's YOUR son!"  
  
"So it is.  And what of it?"    
  
Shinra's flat, dispassionate tone made Bliss wilt.  She tried again, saying,  "And what if Felicity miscarries again?  What if she CAN'T give you any children?  What then?  This baby of mine could be the only heir you'll ever have!"  
  
He stared back at her and said with casual cruelty, "You and your sister aren't the only fish in the ocean.  A powerful man always has options."  
  
She lifted her tear-streaked face and gaped at him.    
  
"You... you wouldn't!"  
  
"Wouldn't I?"  He loomed over her and said, "Listen to me carefully, Bliss.  I'm not going to tolerate any more trouble from you.  If you cooperate and behave yourself, you can have a nice, comfortable life.  If you don't, there are other ways of handling this situation.  Now, have I made myself *perfectly* clear?"  
  
She gulped and nodded quickly.  
  
"Good.  Now wipe your face and go pack."  
  
After a few moments, Bliss rose to her feet and stumbled out his office.  She faltered when she saw the three Turks waiting for her from the reception area, but two of the dark-suited men grasped her by the elbows and briskly escorted her to the elevators.  
  
The remaining Turk waited until Bliss was out of sight, then turned to his employer.  
  
"What should we do with her, sir?"  
  
"Hmmm....  Where to put her?"  Shinra tapped his chin thoughtfully.  "Costa del Sol?  No, that won't work.  Felicity likes to take her vacations there.  Can't have the two of them running into each other."  He wandered over to the large map that nearly covered one wall of the reception area and studied it.  
  
After a few minutes, he chuckled and said, "That'll work.  A small company town located in the mountains of the Western continent.  Quiet, picturesque, and nicely isolated.  It'll do."  
  
"And the name of the town, sir?"  
  
"Nibelheim."  
  
======================================================================  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
Keeper of Duo's Dark Side ~~~ Duo no Seishi  
Saitoh no Koibito ~~~ Corruptor Extraordinaire  
-------------------------------------------------  
madamhydra@aol.com              /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/:E  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
======================================================================  
The Full Disclaimer:  
   All names, likenesses, and rights of Final Fantasy VII and its characters are trademarks, copyright, and property of Square Co., Ltd. and legally associated parties.  The characters and associated materials of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only.  The author of this work claims no ownership, part or whole, of the original plot and characters.  This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.    
   All original portions of this work is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author Madamhydra.  No part of this work is to be reproduced, altered, or adapted in any way without the author's express permission.  
  
====================================================================== 


	13. Substitution Reaction sidestory

**_WARNING!_**

This fic contains a rather nasty and kinky scene involving erotic mind control, insane Sephiroth, and psychological Cloud-torture. Readers of my darker fics (especially "Mechanics of Control") will have a good idea what I'm talking about. If this sort of story doesn't interest you, DO NOT READ THIS FIC.

:cough: That being said, this drabble was very helpful in working out a major plot issue I've been having with COI, as in what the hell could make someone like Zack mentally snap (albeit temporary). I think I've come up with something. :hums happily:

The story is a bit obscure, but hopefully not too much. Since it's still a draft, please forgive the inevitable typos and grammatical errors. Enjoy!

**Title:** Substitution Reaction

**Author:** Madamhydra

**Rating:** R (mature themes)

**Pairing:** Sephiroth/Cloud with the tiniest hint of you-know-who thrown in

**Date:** completed draft 10/11/2005; revised draft 10/13/2005

**Summary:** A COI-related one-shot fic speculating what might have happened between Sephiroth and Cloud in the Northern Crater after Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black Materia (yes, yet another one).

**Disclaimer:** (Full Disclaimers at the end) Final Fantasy VII is the copyright and property of its creators and legally associated parties. Used without permission. Not for profit.

**--------------------------------**

The summoning was complete. Now all that remained was the reconstruction of his body and Meteor's inevitable arrival.

All great things moved at their own pace. Meteor could not be hurried, just as the rebuilding of his new physical body could not be rushed. With its few flaws eliminated, its performance optimized, this reconstructed body would be even stronger and faster than before, much better suited to handle his greatly increased powers. This, like so much, he owed to his Mother's guidance.

But what should he do in the interim as he waited for Meteor to descend and for the last remnants of muscle and bone to weave themselves into place?

He glanced over at the limp figure floating nearby. Cloud Strife's eyes were open, yet blank and utterly devoid of intelligence or spirit. Even the usually bright mako glow of those blue eyes were now little more than dim embers, mirroring how Cloud's pretense of an independent existence had been utterly extinguished. Now the young man was a puppet in truth. The flesh was already -- had always been -- his to command, but now the breaking was complete.

Yes, he had something to amuse him, a plaything to while away the hours. But how to begin this game when his puppet was behaving so... puppet-like?

So he reached deep into his toy's mind and stirred, waiting for an reaction.

Almost instantly, his new toy twitched. A soft moan escaped those pale lips. Vacant blue eyes spilled tears.

Fascinated, he stirred again, this time probing hard and deep into the depths of his plaything's shattered psyche. And like the foul, glutinous muck lurking at the bottom of a pond, his proddings exposed the dark and ugly memories that his toy had tried so desperately to suppress and brought them roiling back to the surface, to awareness.

It sceamed, limbs thrashing uncontrollably, glassy eyes wide and bulging with shock and horror.

Ignoring its shrieks, he continued to stir his plaything's mind vigorously, allowing no memory or trauma to remain hidden. As he did so, he remembered his first contact and exploration of this Clone's mind as it had staggered through the wilds outside Midgar and how much pain it had suffered, with its brain swirling with the razor-sharp fragments of an utterly shattered mind.

But no matter how painful that earlier mental probe had been for this puppet, that was nothing compared to what it was experiencing now. Back then, overwhelming shock had provided a small buffer from reality. This time, he ensured that there was no such protection standing between his plaything and the full brunt of its memories. He wanted nothing to interfere with its reactions.

Its back arching at a dangerous angle, it keened like a creature slowly being flayed alive. Or perhaps flaying would have been preferable. Blue eyes rolled wildly in all directions, seeking an escape that did not exist.

As he watched with growing interest, he found his plaything's display both amusing and ironic. He had done little more than remove the feeble mental barriers that his toy had erected. All the rest -- the pain, the anguish -- came entirely from within itself, horrific memories which ruthlessly victimized and ravaged his puppet as it relived the very worst moments of its existence in excruciating detail.

He could understand why his toy wanted to forget those events. If one had the opportunity to pick and choose one's memories, who wouldn't try to forget the most traumatic ones?

It was understandable, but at the same time, annoyingly pathetic. Unlike his toy, he, Sephiroth, had never had the luxury of forgetting anything. He remembered everything he experienced with pristine and brutal clarity, from the moment of his birth to this very second.

He would ensure that his puppet would possess the same perfect, merciless memory.

Spittle dripped from its gaping, gasping mouth as it twisted and writhed from the unrelenting assault of its own broken mind. For those memories, as if seeking retribution for being ignored and denied, forced themselves on their owner with redoubled intensity.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?"

He saw his toy react to his voice, twitching to instant attention. Even in the utmost depths of torment, the puppet heard its master's voice and could do nothing but respond... and obey.

"...yes..."

Its voice was little more than a hoarse, ragged whisper.

"But you deserve it, don't you? For lying to yourself."

"...yes..."

"And for trying to lie to me."

"...YES!"

Ah, now that was a much more satisfying and empathic response. His mildly phrased question, with its clear implication of disobedience and the inevitable consequence of punishment and discipline, was infinitely more terrifying than any overt threat.

"And you won't forget ever again?"

His puppet sobbed, gulped air as it strained to answer, even as the horrors of its past clawed and shredded its brain.

"... I... will... never... forget..."

He cocked his head slightly.

"Never forget what?" he prompted.

"...the... the... truth..."

"What truth?" he coaxed his toy in a low purr.

"... the... truth... of... what..."

For an instant, his plaything stiffened, limbs splaying every which way, as being pulled apart by some invisible rack. Blue eyes half-rolled back into their sockets as agonized squeals and gurgles escaped from between tightly clenched teeth.

He couldn't help wondering what particular memory this particular torment came from. Something from his childhood, or perhaps from his teenage years? No, more likely it came from his plaything's years as Hojo's test subject. He watched as his puppet bucked and twisted, but it was a futile struggle. The bondage of memory was absolute, stronger than adamantium, and not even the tremendous physical strength his toy possessed in the present would change what had happened to it in the past.

He was patient, allowing the memory to play itself out to its inevitable wrenching conclusion. Because even though ensnared in the coils of its traumatic past, the puppet was also ever-aware of its master and his desires. No matter what happened to it, no matter what it experienced, felt, or did, this puppet would never be able to ignore him. The toy knew what its master wanted, would strive desperately to give it to him. Because as a puppet, it had no choice but to comply utterly.

That's what puppets existed to do.

Sure enough, its mouth and throat worked as it straining to force out the desired response.

"... i... will... never... forget... the... truth... of... what... i... am..."

"Which is?"

That was, he had to admit, a rather cruel and unfair tactic. The very nature of the question forced his toy to plunge even deeper into the hellish tangle of its past, to actively embrace the very memories that hurt it so very much.

And it showed in his puppet's agonized facial expressions and the wild physical contortions that became a macabre dance of unbearable suffering. And as his toy danced, it choked out its answers.

"... your... puppet..."

"And?"

"... worthless... trash... utter... failure... slut..."

The last word piqued his attention.

"Oho. Did someone actually call you that? A slut?"

It jerked its blond head affirmatively.

"I didn't hear you," he murmured pleasantly.

"... yes...," came the whimpered reply.

If possible, his plaything's writhing became even more intense, until they bordered on outright convulsions. Its eyes glittered with tears of hopeless shame as his toy twisted its hips and the muscles in its spread legs tensed and bunched as it desperately strained to pull them together to protect its most vulnerable parts. But they remained wide apart, as if held by some irresistible external force. There was no such force now, of course, only the overwhelming power of the particular memory or memories dominating his puppet's awareness at the moment. The sight of his puppet floating in mid-air, legs splayed wide open, hips humping, was oddly... enticing.

"Do you believe them?"

It rolled its eyes and gazed helplessly at him. Hardly a surprise, since that question required that his toy make a choice. And since a puppet had no will, it could not choose for itself. It could only look toward its master for guidance.

Either way, all he had to do was say a few simple words -- 'yes, you are a slut' or 'no, you're not a slut'. His puppet would accept his pronouncment as irrefutable truth. He wondered for a moment what would happen if he told his toy to believe the affirmative, and what other parts of its psyche would warp and distort to accomodate that new 'truth'. Would that 'truth', by itself, lessen this puppet's shame and misery, or increase it?

But he felt strangely declined to experiment, and while he hesitated, yet another memory grabbed hold of his plaything. It curled up and rocked, sobbing quietly.

He knew that particular bit of body language all too well -- that futile and pointless attempt to hide, to protect oneself from sexual violations both already done and yet to come. Ironic to think that both master and puppet, so different in power and situation, would share such a sordid experience.

But while he, Sephiroth, had refused to submit tamely to that usage and had soon grown too strong for such humiliating abuse, his plaything had remained pathetically weak, leaving it vulnerable to even more harassment and rape.

It wasn't kindness or sympathy that led him to do what he did next. But he was feeling somewhat indulgent toward his toy at the moment. After all, it had performed quite well for a mere puppet.

"Do you want your suffering to stop?" he said quietly.

Glassy blue eyes stared at him, as his puppet's ravaged mind struggled to cope with the sudden change in topic.

"I can take all the pain and misery away."

For this boon, he asked nothing in return, because his plaything had nothing of value to offer him. Everything it possessed, everything it was, already belonged to its master. Its utter submission, its complete obedience he already had. His dominion was complete and unquestioned by both of them.

No, there would be no pretense of a bargain, for a bargain would imply that his puppet had something that he wanted or needed. Which was ludicrous, of course. No, he was bestowing this gift purely as a whim.

He waited, but his puppet did not reply. Uncurling slightly from its fetal position, it floated before him, trembling, mouth working, but silent.

He was momentarily baffled by that silence, since he had expected his plaything to beg prettily for this merciful release, but then understood. He had inadvertently set up an irresolvable dilemma in his puppet. Should it agree, and attempt to escape the pain of its memories, a pain that its master had explicitly condemned it to endure? But how could it possibly refuse when its master's intent and desire were so clear?

Either response was unacceptable. But dumb silence was not acceptable, either, because its master wanted an answer from it. Failure to answer was clear disobedience, and for this puppet, so utterly broken, disobedience was both impossible and unbearable.

So there it floated, its pathetic puppet-mind totally gridlocked, unable to give an answer, but at the same time unable to withhold an answer. He wondered what would happen if he waited and did nothing. Would the puppet's mind remain forever locked in this state, or would something eventually give way inside it? Was his plaything even capable of breaking further, and what would be the result? Would something even more submissive, more obedient, emerge? Or it become worthless, gibbering junk?

"What do you want?" he said, softly.

So satisfying, to watch his toy's reaction, the compulsive twitch of attention at even his faintest whisper. But even more entertaining was how effortlessly he could turn the screws, pile on the pressure, with four simple words. He could ask his puppet that question again and again, knowing that every time he asked, the more unbearable its inability to answer would become. How much more could it endure?

"What do you want?" he repeated.

Oh, that wildly pleading blue-eyed gaze begging him for guidance, begging him to take away the intolerable burden of choice that was surely destroying it from within. Deceptively slender hands, bearing the callouses of a master swordsman, slowly reached out toward him, groping and trembling uncontrollably.

"What. Do. You. Want?"

He knew what the puppet wanted, of course. It wanted release from pain, a blessed surcease. All living creatures were genetically programmed to avoid things that cause pain. Surely it was one of the most basic and primal of instincts, just as it was an equally powerful instinct to seek out and embrace things that cause pleasure.

Pain. Pleasure.

He smiled slowly.

His toy shivered, hands still beseechingly outstretched.

His smile widened. This experiment promised to be very interesting, indeed.

It took less effort to rewire the puppet's brain than to flip a series of switches.

_Pain Pleasure_

Shame Satisfaction

Dread Anticipation

Fear/Hate Love

And just like that, as he had told his plaything, suffering and misery evaporated. In some ways, very little had changed. The puppet's memories remained wholly intact, untouched and complete, and it continued to relive those memories. However, its reactions to those memories were now fundamentally altered.

It was the puppet's turn to smile, its eyes remained glassy and dazed, not from torment, but from its antithesis. All the unbearable memories that had tortured it -- the relentless emotional and physical abuse of childhood, the sexual abuse under the guise of 'friendly' hazing in Shinra's military, the agonizing experiments in Nibelheim -- now only brought merciless waves of pleasure. It was overwhelming happiness, not anguish, that made it writhe and scream, even as the crotch of its pants stained and darkened.

His toy now relived the most horrific events of its life, but instead of frantically seeking to escape them, it reveled in the torture, the rape, and every other bit of misery inflicted upon it. Because in its rewired mind, to be violated was to be embraced, to be tortured was to be loved. Pain is pleasure, just as pleasure is pleasure.

And as for the perpetrators of those tortures, the instigators of so much of its suffering... it hatedloved them all. Madly, passionately. Even someone as repellent as Hojo, he observed with wry amusement. And the more brutal and malicious they were, the more his plaything hatedloved and fearedadored them for it. But most of all, it hatedloved and fearedadored him, surely the cruelestkindest and sadisticcompassionate of them all. His existence, which had so recently filled his puppet with so much anger and dread, now filled his puppet with pure, incandescent joy.

"As you see, I'm a person of my word. You no longer suffer," he murmured, watching in amusement as his puppet orgasmed at the mere sound of his voice.

"I wonder. Do you know what pain is, anymore? Or has the very concept of pain vanished from your mind?"

No, not quite. His plaything was still fully capable of feeling pain, misery, fear, and other such emotions. But he, Sephiroth, controlled his puppet's interpretion of those feelings.

He could go deeper, make the changes at the deepest, most fundamental levels of his puppet's psyche. But was it really necessary? If you completely controlled a creature's perceptions of reality, you gained complete control of the creature. That was yet another valuable lesson that his Mother had taught him.

The proof of that hovered before him as his puppet wept and shivered uncontrollably from nearly unbearable anguishhappiness, its glazed blue eyes locked adoringly upon its master. Strangely, the sight both pleased and irritated him.

"What a nice existence that must be, where unpleasant feelings like pain, shame, hatred, and fear do not exist. Shall I leave you like this? Or should I return you to your former pathetic state? Pleasure or pain? Heaven or hell? It's quite an appropriate decision for a god-to-be. So, can you guess your fate, my puppet?"

He couldn't keep the malice he felt out of his voice. But instead of terrifying his toy, the threat wrung a long scream of rapturous ecstasy from it as its body thrashed wildly in the grip of the most powerful orgasm yet. When it was finally over, the puppet hung limp, its head lolling back, utterly exhausted... then slowly it raised its head and smiled at him.

He froze.

It wasn't the look of blind adoration or love that he expected. No, what he saw was far more unsettling -- a look of deep, profound affection. It unsettled him because he somehow knew that affection and the acceptance it contained i meant /i far more than any display of blind love or fanatical devotion ever could.

And for the briefest instant, he saw black hair instead of blond gold, and lively dark grey eyes instead of vacant light blue.

In the next second, without thinking, he had exploded out of his crystal chrysalis and wrapped his hand around Cloud's throat.

"WHO ARE YOU?" he demanded fiercely.

The question, although not loud, seemed to echo on forever in the depths of the Northern Crater.

Still with that warm, tender smile on his face, Cloud lifted his hand and reached out to him. His mouth opened to reply.

But before he heard the answer, before Cloud's or whoever's hand could touch his face, his Mother's song swelled inside him, and Jenova's usual soothing whisper briefly transformed into a majestic thunderous chorus that drowned out everything.

When his Mother's voice finally subsided, the moment had passed. The haunting flash of memory was gone, just as the fleeting vision that had triggered it was gone. And as the almost-memory vanished from his awareness, the sense of almost-shock of recognition and almost-horror at what he had done disappeared along with it.

In that brief moment when his Mother's voice had wholly dominated his awareness, he had apparently flung Cloud away from him. He now drifted over to Cloud's floating body and saw that the other's eyes were again vacant and reassuringly blue. But even as he watched, Cloud began to shiver once again in helpless eagerness, his pale face twisting in feverish anticipation for the next wave of once-traumatic memories and the intolerable sufferingjoy/pleasure they would bring.

But he no longer felt the slightest desire or inclination to toy with Cloud any more. Indeed, the experiment that had interested and amused him so much just a few minutes ago now left him feeling both dirty and vaguely nauseous.

With an angry mental flick, he undid all the changes he had made in Cloud's mind and watched as the sickening happiness on Cloud's face drained away, to be immediately replaced by an equally sickening expression of anguished misery.

Just as Cloud opened his mouth to start screaming in renewed torment, he spoke sharply, and with uncharacteristic harshness.

"Go. I am done with you."

But before he cast Cloud away into the Lifestream, Sephiroth gathered up Cloud's most unbearable and horrific memories, then reburied them.

He did it without bothering to ask himself why.

**--------------------------------**

The Full Disclaimer:

All names, likenesses, and rights of Final Fantasy VII and its characters are trademarks, copyright, and property of Square Co., Ltd. and legally associated parties. The characters and associated materials of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. The author of this work claims no ownership, part or whole, of the original plot and characters. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.

All original portions of this work is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author Madamhydra. No part of this work is to be reproduced, altered, or adapted in any way without the author's express permission.


	14. Cloud Reno fic drabble

Yup, yet **_another_** random COI fic drabble which I've been working on for several months.

Unbetaed and unspell-checked, so expect rampant errors and occasional incoherence. ;;

**Type:** Final Fantasy VII - COI fic drabble

**Author:** Madamhydra

**Rating:** R (profanity, mature themes)

**Status:** rough draft 11/08/2005

**Summary:** Reno goes to view his sister's body and has an i very /i interesting discussion with Cloud, during which we find out that: (1) Zack has his own mental/emotional issues to deal with; and (2) why it's not good to get on Zack's bad side. Also, a little touch of Strife here and there.

**--------------------------------------**

The Shinra Mansion and the Reactor at Nibelheim couldn't be left unguarded, especially the Mansion with all its secrets. On the other hand, stationing a full-sized military garrison in the town itself didn't seem a good idea, either. Aside from attracting undesirable attention, Reeve didn't like the idea of so many strangers wandering around a place that held way too many dangerous secrets.

They were only now beginning to realize just how important the research complex at Nibelheim was. It wasn't the facility's physical size that proved the most intimidating, but the sheer volume of research conducted. The place was much larger than any of them first expected, with at least three full basement levels underneath the Shinra Mansion, and possibly more. Individually, each level wasn't that large, but when added together, there was more than enough space for all sorts of depraved experiments. And there were plenty of those sorts of experiments with often seven or eight projects running simultaneously.

And every sickening, disgusting square foot would have to be searched, documented, and picked over for clues, because the secrets lurking beneath the Shinra Mansion could very well spell the difference between victory or defeat, survival or disaster, in their inevitable confrontation with Hojo and the newly resurrected Jenova-CORE. It promised to be a horrible but necessary task, one that no one deserved, especially Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa. Surely Nibelheim held enough painful associations without adding even more. But there was no question that somebody had to do it, and soon.

The situation was further complicated by the lack of reliable information about the laboratory and its activities. Between all the various deadly incidents -- Sephiroth's rampages through Nibelheim and Shinra HQ, the summoning of Meteor, just to name a few -- many of the Nibelheim lab staff were either dead or missing. And of the survivors who could be located, most were extremely reluctant to talk. Many remained silent from guilt, fear, greed, or most likely a mixture of all the above.

However, with the application of a few incentives and a little judicious pressure, the few ex-staffers Reeve managed to locate became a little more cooperative. What he learned only reinforced his initial impressions of that horrid place.

However, at the moment Reeve's main concern was to secure Nibelheim and make sure that Hojo didn't run off with more equipment or data.

Reeve couldn't blame the military for its lack of enthusiasm to take on this mission. The scene of multiple bloody massacres, a town twice burnt and razed to the ground -- if there was a place that could be said to be god-forsaken and accursed, Nibelheim was it. And yet through all the carnage and fire, the Shinra Mansion had somehow survived, hiding an seemingly endless series of dark, gruesome secrets. It was enough to make even the most hardened, unimaginative trooper nervous and skittish.

He eventually settled on setting up a guard perimeter around the whole area and blocking access to the town center and the Mansion. Fortunately, the rough terrain made that task relatively easy. The Nibel Mountains were nearly inaccessible by ground, except by a narrow, barely passable road on one side and a hazardous passageway through convoluted, monster-infested caverns on the other. Unpredictable mountain winds made an aerial approach tricky under the best conditions, and downright suicidal at night or bad weather. Even Hojo had lost close to a quarter of his monsters during his recent raid on Nibelheim to such environmental hazards even before reaching the town. Not that Hojo cared, of course.

The security perimeter wasn't a perfect solution, by any means. Reeve doubted that conventional forces could do much against a serious attack by Hojo's minions, but at least they could keep the more mundane intruders away in addition to watching for any suspicious activity.

But even as he sent out his orders, Reeve couldn't help wondering about the missing Nibelheim staffers. Were they actually dead or merely hiding? And if they were hiding, why?

**--------------------------------------**

Reno didn't bother to turn around as Cloud and Tifa stepped onto the deck of the Highwind II. As they approached, he merely said, "I want to see my sister."

"Are you sure?" Cloud said quietly.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"But why put yourself through something like that?" Tifa said. Despite her usual antipathy toward the Turks, and this Turk in particular, she couldn't help feeling sorry for Reno. "She's dead and Hojo's responsible. Isn't it enough?"

Reno turned sharply.

"No, it isn't," he snapped curtly. The Turk pushed himself away from the railing and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "This is something I need to see with my own eyes. She was my sister. My TWIN sister."

Tifa looked away, clearly unsure how to deal with a Reno who was clearly hurting.

Cloud noticed that Reno was looking at him with a hard, angry gleam in his green eyes, although he was pretty sure that he wasn't the target of that anger. The Turk claimed that he wanted to 'see' his sister, but Cloud doubted that was the whole truth. However, since Reno obviously wasn't in the mood to discuss the topic further in Tifa's presence, Cloud didn't pursue the issue.

He nodded slightly, acknowledging Reno's unspoken request/demand, and merely said, "All right. I'll tell Reeve to notify the guards."

**--------------------------------------**

After arriving above Nibelheim, the airship hovered above the closest patch of level ground and dropped a ladder. Once down, Cloud and his companions gazed at the still smouldering ruins of the town before splitting up to handle their individual tasks. Over various and occasionally vigorous objections, Reno and Cloud were going into the Mansion alone. The Turk made it abundantly plain that he did not want anyone else, least of all Tifa, hanging over his shoulder during what promised to be a deeply personal and painfully emotional experience. He had even firmly rejected the company of his fellow Turks.

Cloud had not objected to Reno's demands. He knew that Reno had tons of questions and the Turk deserved answers. Whether Cloud could give the other man the answers that Reno both wanted and needed remained to be seen, but Cloud was willing to try. He was all too familiar with this particular sort of emotional loss, and the hatred, rage, but perhaps more importantly, the guilt that went along with it.

Under normal circumstances, the Turk probably would have shrugged off his kidnapping as just another occupational hazard, and billed Reeve accordingly for it. But what Hojo did to Reno's sister pushed things to an entirely different level. Screw professional detachment -- this was now -personal-, as in the 'I want to slowly eviscerate my enemy with my bare hands and stomp their guts into the ground with a sadistic grin' type of personal.

Cloud could sympathize entirely with that sentiment, especially in regard to Hojo. And because of that feeling, he was prepared to go back into the Mansion and sift through his fractured, nightmarish memories.

Curiously, the two other people who were most directly and personally affected by Hojo's activities in the Mansion -- Vincent and Sephiroth -- had been notably silent during the sometimes intense discussion about their proposed visit to the Mansion's basement labs. Vincent continued to be lost in his own dark, brooding thoughts. Sephiroth didn't even attempt to invite himself along, most likely because he knew what everyone's reaction to that idea would be. He had merely given Cloud a long thoughtful stare before turning his attention back to the status reports on the various WEAPONs.

Cloud and Reno said nothing to each other as they walked through the square, past the charred wreckage of the town's solitary inn, stepped over the twisted remnants of the Mansion's heavy iron gate, then finally mounted the stairs to its front door. Side by side, they shoved open the heavy double doors and entered. Ignoring the stench and the stains left by the most recent massacre, they descended down the rickety wooden spiral into the basement. Finally, they stood outside the newly uncovered doorway that led to the Project B laboratory.

"Are you ready for this?" Cloud said, glancing at the Turk.

Reno took a deep breath, bracing himself for the sights to come. Rude and Elena had done their best to prepare him for what lay behind those seeming innocuous lab doors, but Cloud's grim expression warned him that nothing could adequately describe what he was about to see. He rolled his shoulders and neck slightly, as if preparing himself for battle, then replied with stony determination.

"Yeah. Let's do it."

Cloud nodded, then pushed open the door.

They stepped through the antechamber, with its sinister steel examination tables. Reno's lips thinned at the sight of the obviously well-used restraints and at the overwhelming clinical coldness of the place, but he said nothing.

One last set of doors and they stood in the center of Hojo's grotesque collection of corpses. His suspicions were right -- mere words could not do justice to the hideous reality of that chamber and its sickening display of maternal and fetal bodies. Reno stared silently at the rows of paired specimen cylinders lining its walls, each dimly lit from within and glowing like obscene floor lamps. When his gaze settled on the tube containing the body of his sister, Reno took two quick involuntary steps toward it, then abruptly stopped.

The two men said nothing for a very long time as Reno stood and stared at Regis' pale, naked, mutilated body. The silence was only broken by the faint hum from the scattered equipment and Reno's harsh breathing hissing from between clenched teeth.

**--------------------------------------**

Cloud backed up several steps, giving the Turk the time and the space the other man needed to get a grip on his seething emotions. He certainly wouldn't blame Reno if the other man took out his frustration in an explosive display of fury, just as Vincent had. But no matter how momentarily satisfying it would be to wreck huge chunks of Hojo's laboratory, that sort of physical destruction wouldn't accomplish anything meaningful. It wouldn't bring Reno's sister back to life and it would do little, if any, harm to Hojo.

If simply blowing up this damn Mansion could bring the dead back to life and/or really fuck Hojo over, he would have done it a long, long time ago, and to hell with escaping...

Cloud was relieved to see that Reno seemed to share his view on the subject. Despite what people said about redheads and short tempers, Reno was not letting his anger control him. He was doing the opposite. Instead of letting his temper explode and wreaking unproductive havoc, the Turk was channeling his rage into something more useful. Cloud knew that type of hatred intimately -- hatred that was cold, deadly, relentless, and if need be, endlessly patient.

Back at the weapons plant, he had wanted, just like Vincent, to stay behind and hunt down Hojo, to gut the sick bastard once and for all. But the situation had simply been too chaotic, with too many ways that Hojo could slip through his fingers. If he had been alone, he might taken that risk, gambling that he could find Hojo before the bastard escaped or before the entire cliff collapsed on his head.

But he hadn't been alone, and he wasn't prepared to carelessly endanger his friends's lives merely to satisfy his own hunger for revenge. They would all have plenty of opportunities to risk their lives without taking stupidly reckless chances. Besides, he wasn't that desperate. Not at this point of the game, anyway. He would get another chance at Hojo. Cloud was sure of it.

So he leaned back against a wall and gave Reno the opportunity to deal somewhat with both the reality of his sister's fate and his own emotions. But to be honest, Cloud needed the time to steady himself, as well.

This place played havoc with his self-control, and his emotions and reactions became almost frighteningly unpredictable. There were too many horrific memories here. They assaulted him continually, like a neverending horde of skeletal fingers clawing at the edges of his mind. It didn't matter how fragmented and jumbled those memories were. They didn't need to make sense to tie his guts in knots or leave him feeling sick and shaken to the core.

The best he could strive for was a precarious state of numbness that would hopefully keep those memories at bay long enough so he could function and do whatever was necessary.

And yet, despite knowing how badly this hellhole affected him, Cloud had still agreed to accompany Reno and do his best to answer the Turk's questions... if he could. He had been partially motivated by his sympathy for Reno, but there had been another reason for wanting to have a long, private talk with the Turk. If only he could remember what it was...

Finally, Reno broke the silence and spoke in a voice that was very close to his usual drawling, nonchalant tone.

"Now I know why that mother-fucker always had that sly, shit-faced smirk on his face every time we bumped into each other."

Cloud nodded grimly. "Yeah, Hojo definitely gets off on those sort of sick secrets. Knowledge is his favorite toy and his favorite weapon, all rolled into one."

"Speaking of knowledge..."

"... you want to know what really happened to your sister," Cloud finished.

Reno whirled to face Cloud and growled, "Don't you think I have a right to know?"

"As Tifa said, she's dead and Hojo's responsible. That's a fairly accurate summary of the situation," Cloud murmured.

"It's not enough." Reno grinned -- a feral, mirthless baring of teeth. "Normally, I'm not the sort of guy who sweats the details. But this time, it's personal. As personal as it fucking well gets. So deal with it. I want to know what happened here so I can take payment out of Hojo's scaly, bug-eyed hide, with mucho interest added."

"There are other people who have claims on Hojo's hide. Vincent, for one."

Reno shrugged carelessly. "I'm sure the two of us can work something out."

With a sigh, Cloud said, "Look, if you're looking for hard facts, I'm not sure I can give them to you. To be honest, my memory of this place is a unholy mess -- how much was real, how much hallucination, and how much outright dementia, I can't tell you. You'd be better off pumping one of Hojo's former lab drones for information. I'm sure Reeve has got a few under lock and key by now."

Reno pinned him with a hard stare. "Yeah, maybe I'll do that. But they can't give me what you can."

"A look from inside the cage?" Cloud said with a derisive snort. "If that's what you want, you'd still be better off talking to someone else. Try Red or Vincent. They both know what it's like to be one of Hojo's experimental subjects, and their memories are lot more coherent than mine. Hell, you've even had first-hand experience yourself."

"Don't remind me. But that's not what I'm looking for." Reno began pacing restlessly, back and forth in front of that long row of glowing specimen cylinders.

As he watched the Turk's feline-like prowl, Cloud wondered at his own perversity. He had already decided to tell Reno everything he could about Hojo and Project B. He had made that decision back onboard the Highwind II when Reno had first demanded to see his sister's body. So why was he now playing coy?

Digging through his memories would be ugly and painful. He knew that, but he had been fully prepared to do it. Or at least he -thought- he had been prepared. Was he being stubborn out of cowardice, fearful of what he might remember?

No, that wasn't it. Somewhere deep inside him, Cloud knew he had the answers that Reno wanted. It was simply a matter of getting the Turk to ask the right question.

The right question?

Annoyed and impatient with himself, Cloud said bluntly, "Then tell me, what's really eating at you, Reno? Besides the fact that Hojo kidnapped your sister, used her for his twisted experiments, and eventually killed her, either directly or indirectly."

"Damn right there's more," Reno growled through gritted teeth. His steps quickened and his hands clenched, as if digging into an imaginary throat.

As Reno continued to pace with increasing ferocity, Cloud braced himself for the impending explosion, either verbal or physical. Soon enough, the Turk abruptly skidded to a halt, then whirled to face Cloud and yelled, "But most of all, I want to know WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT?"

So that was it.

On the surface, it seemed like a rather stupid question. How could Reno have possibly known? Highly classified research projects were supposed to be... well, highly classified. They were run on a strict, need-to-know basis, and a mere Turk didn't need to know. And while Hojo was a sadistic, megomaniacal bastard, the scientist still had a very healthy sense of self-preservation. However he might gloat about the exploit privately, Hojo would have taken great care to keep Regis Donovan's kidnapping and her resultant fate a secret, especially in view of Reno's formidable and notorious reputation.

But Cloud felt a deeply sympathetic twinge when he heard Reno's question and the barely controlled anguish accompanying it. The question seemed to resonate and echo inside him, as if in some murky corner of his mind, he had asked himself essentially the same, equally heart-wrenching question over and over again.

/Why didn't I realize something was WRONG/

It was that sympathetic twinge that prodded Cloud into sifting through memories he would much rather leave alone. Almost absently, he said, "The two of you were very close, right?"

In mid-step, Reno froze and gave Cloud a slightly startled look, as if he hadn't expected Cloud to actually pursue the issue.

"Yeah, we were. She was the only member of my family that I could stand." The Turk paused, then added, almost reluctantly. "The only one who accepted me as I am."

"And you were in the habit of 'picking up' things from her. I've heard that it's not uncommon with twins," Cloud continued in the same thoughtful, slightly distracted tone.

Reno shrugged and said, "It wasn't like we were telepathic or anything like that. But yeah, I usually knew if something major happened to her. An accident, a bad scare, that sort of thing. Otherwise, she was just... there." He gestured vaguely, then looked away, obviously uncomfortable with discussing a very personal and very private subject.

"And then she wasn't."

"That's why I never doubted that she was dead, that she had died in that big train wreck." He whipped around to glare at Cloud. "I just KNEW. She wasn't 'there' anymore." He flung up his hands in exasperation. "Hell, it sounds crazy, but I can't begin to explain it!"

"You don't need to," Cloud said evenly. "I understand perfectly." He knew exactly how it felt to lose that sort of intimate connection to another person. He knew how much it hurt to reach out and only encounter cold, echoing emptiness instead of a familiar, comforting presence. Both of them had experienced that loss, the pain of having such a bond severed. But unlike Reno, HE had been the one to do the severing. Not just once, not just twice, but three times, with his own bloody hands.

He could only hope that there wouldn't be a fourth time...

Reno stared at Cloud for a long moment, his green eyes narrowing thoughtfully, then looked relieved that he don't have to spell everything out in embarassing detail. Instead, he waved his hand at the tube containing his sister's body. "I was so fucking SURE. And then I find out about this! And I didn't know a damn thing?" He glared around, looking for some way to vent his anger and frustration. He settled for kicking a broken corner of desk hard across the room.

At the same time, Cloud was concentrating, straining to remember something about Project B, about its subjects. What was it about those subjects and the idea of not knowing, not feeling, of being unaware? And why did that combination make him feel both coldly furious and horribly bitter? Slowly, like a man picking his way over dangerously unstable ground, Cloud said, "Given everything you've told me, I think your ignorance of your sister's fate is actually a good sign."

"And how do you figure that?" Reno snapped.

"Because it would mean that she didn't feel a thing Hojo did to her. Which makes her one of the lucky ones. One of the very lucky ones."

Reno stared blankly at him.

Cloud continued in that same deliberate tone even as his head began to throb painfully, "He tried drugs to keep them pacified, but that didn't work. Tried brain surgery, but that's still not enough. To hell with it, why not take the process to its logical conclusion?"

He abruptly went still, then stared up at the preserved corpse of Regis Donovan. In a hoarse whisper, he said, "Reno, you felt your sister die because she DID die. At least the part of her that mattered died."

When Reno scowled in angry confusion, Cloud said, "Brain dead." The pounding in his head grew stronger as he stared at Reno. "And no, not because of the train wreck. AFTER the wreck. And it was no accident."

Somehow, as soon as he uttered those last three sentences, Cloud knew that they were not mere speculation or wild guesses. He KNEW. Somewhere in his head he could hear the echo of Hojo's insufferably smug, snide voice boasting how he had solved the niggling problem with the host subjects of Project B, and other things, like how he, Hojo, had acquired a particularly fine red-haired specimen for his project. And how that woman would make excellent breeding stock for more potential Sephiroths...

Cloud sagged back against the wall and fought down the urge to vomit.

"Are you trying to tell me that Hojo deliberately destroyed my sister's mind and then used her body as a living incubator?" Reno's voice was terrifyingly flat.

Cloud took a few deep breaths, then met the Turk's burning stare. "That's exactly what happened. Now do you understand what Hojo and his sort are capable of doing in the name of 'science'?"

"Brain dead," Reno said in the same cold, utterly flat tone.

"Or close enough to not matter," Cloud said curtly. "When you think about it, it's a near-perfect solution to an annoying problem." In a viciously accurate mimicry of Hojo's pretentious speech patterns, Cloud continued, "After all, there's nothing not more irritating or inconvenient than having one of your host subjects kill herself off in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy. This way, there's no need to deal with a hysterical, hormonal female who might injure herself, or more importantly the valuable specimen growing inside her."

"And you call my sister one of the LUCKY ones?" the Turk snarled softly, anger finally working its way back into his voice.

Something dark and ugly inside Cloud seethed, then suddenly boiled over. "She was a fucking lot luckier than -I- was," he snarled back. "Be grateful for small favors. At least your sister was blissfully unaware of what was happening to her."

/Lucky bitch./

He pushed away from the wall and slowly stalked toward Reno, fists clenching.

"I would've begged... Hell, I DID beg to be that fortunate, to no longer be able to think, feel, or remember anything. To simply stop existing! Begged, pleaded, grovelled, you name it! I would have given anything, done anything, to be a total vegetable, to be in the same comfortably mindless state your sister was in! So yeah, from my point of view, that makes her one of the lucky ones!"

He stood with his chest heaving and throat burning as the memories rampaged through his head, memories of when pure agony made rational thought impossible, when one's sense of self evaporated, leaving only maddened desperation, hatred, and envy...

Cloud's muscles quivered with a nearly overwhelming urge to lash out nearest convenient target -- in this case, Reno. He fought back the murderous impulse, forcing himself to step back, turn, and simply walk away.

Minutes ticked by as the two of them silently wrestled their rioting emotions into some fragile semblance of order. Finally, Reno said tightly, "You have a point. It could have been worse. At least she didn't suffer."

Cloud took a few deep, shuddering breaths before speaking. Without turning to look at Reno, he said, "It doesn't make what Hojo did any less horrible or vile. Believe me, he didn't do it out of any twisted sense of mercy. He only did it because he HAD to. I can guarantee that Hojo would have much rather preferred to keep those women conscious and very much aware of their condition."

"Why? Just to watch them suffer?" Reno said in utterly disgusted tones.

Cloud laughed bitterly. "You've got it all wrong. Hojo and his cronies are 'scientists'. He used a sharp flick of two gloved fingers to accentuate the sarcasm. "Every sick perverse thing they do, every torture they inflict, every atrocity they commit, is solely for the sake of their research." He grinned fiercely when he saw Reno's frown. "Don't you get it? Conscious subjects give better feedback. Every bit of data is potentially useful, even if it only consists of agonized screams or snivelling whimpers."

Any hint of amusement, however savagely mocking, disappeared from Cloud's voice as he continued in softer, but no less fierce tones, "That's what they tell you, what they tell each other. But it's all a fucking lie, of course. They hurt you because they CAN. Because there's nothing more intoxicating than having total control over another living being. To make them into your toy or plaything. To literally become your victim's GOD.

Silence settled over them again as Reno's gaze moved slowly around the room, taking in the other specimen chambers and their gruesome contents, especially the hideously deformed fetuses.

"Were all of them like that? Brain dead, like my sister?" Reno's voice was even, but the strain of keeping it that way was obvious.

"The ones here probably were. Otherwise, their pregnacies wouldn't have made it this far."

"Why not?" Reno couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Because the earlier subjects knew what was happening to them." Cloud glanced over at the Turk. "Think about what it means to be utterly violated that way, to have something -other- forced inside you. Something that you know doesn't belong there. Something abnormal and unspeakably alien. And what's worse, you can feel it growing stronger, feel it slowly taking you over in both body and mind. Every instinct is screaming for you to get rid of it any way you can, even if it means ripping open your own flesh with your bare hands."

As Cloud spoke, Reno found himself staring once again at the fetuses accompanying each woman's corpse. These creatures were the result of failed experiments, the by-products of Hojo's mad quest to breed a new Sephiroth. Some of the things looked vaguely human, although with too many or not enough limbs, sensory organs or heads. But others were the spawn of some drug addict's nightmare, a demented mishmash of mammalian, reptilian, and even insect-like traits that included fur, scales, claws, spines, and even tentacles. The idea of those alien monstrosities growing inside these poor women's bodies -- inside Regis's body -- nearly made him retch.

Reno managed, "Yeah, I can see that suicide would be a fucking attractive option."

Cloud smiled coldly, "Oh, it is. But not nearly as easy as you would think, once one's been infected with Jenova cells. The mind might be willing, but the body isn't." He absently rubbed his right wrist. "But with enough persistence and enough opportunities, a lot of the Project B subjects succeeded. Then again, those women weren't nearly as heavily modified as other experimental subjects."

"Like yourself?" Reno said quietly.

"Like myself."

"You said something earlier about drugs and... brain surgery?"

"Hojo tried to stop the self-multilation and suicide attempts with around-the-clock monitoring and intimidation. That was a complete fiasco. He tried physical restraints. He even tried total paralysis."

"How did... no, I don't think I want to know," Reno muttered.

"Trust me, you don't," Cloud said grimly. "But those methods only made things worse. Something to do with emotional stress and body chemistry. The presence of Jenova cells made the use of drugs too unpredictable. So Hojo tried to reduce the stress by lobotomizing some of the women."

Reno flinched involuntarily.

"But it seemed even the slightest degree of self-awareness was enough to cause 'fetal rejection syndrome', as Hojo called it." Cloud shrugged. "So he took the next logical step and eliminated the host's mind altogther. It worked."

"But why did Hojo pick my sister?" Reno yelled, slamming his fist against the wall. "Of all the fucking women on this damn planet!"

"Because she had all the intellectual and physical attributes Hojo was looking for his Sephiroth replacement, or at least the genes for them. As Shinra's director of scientific research, Hojo had plenty of opportunities to scout out promising candidates for Project B."

That made a horrible sort of sense to Reno. Both brains and looks certainly ran in his family.

"Hojo probably had his eyes on your sister for a long time. The train accident just provided a convenient opportunity to grab her."

Reno hissed, "Son of a... The last time I saw her, Regis mentioned something about a new job involving Hojo..." He suddenly paused, then slowly turn to look at Cloud with an expression that was half bafflement, half dark suspicion.

"Wait a fucking moment. All this happened when you were supposed to a prisoner here. So how the -hell- do you know so much?"

Startled by the abrupt challenge, Cloud stared blankly at Reno for a moment. How had he known so much about Project B? A sudden sharp pang ran through his skull, making him gasp and wince.

"I'm not... sure. I heard people talk about..." His head began to throb again. "No, wait..." He massaged his forehead with both hands, then looked up at Reno.

"It was Hojo. Hojo told me himself."

Anger boiled up inside Cloud again, but a very different sort from his earlier outburst at Reno. This time it was icy and ferociously controlled.

"I'm not sure when, or even why, but I can remember listening to him boast about it. He lied about a lot of things, but not about this. He was so fucking -proud- of his 'perfect' solution to the problem. So he talked. And all I could do was... listen."

...trapped in a cage, listening to Hojo ramble on and on, forced to hide his utter loathing behind a mask of cool indifference, knowing that the slightest show of distress or outrage would make him dangerously vulnerable...

Reno stared long and hard at Cloud, then suddenly said, "Hold it. So you're telling me that my sister didn't feel a damn thing while Hojo was experimenting on her -- thank god for small favors! But back there at the weapons plant, Hojo made it sound like..."

Cloud smiled grimly. "...like your sister had suffered all sorts of horrible degradation and torture at his hands." He smiled nastily. "I hate to break it to you, but Hojo lied. He lied just to twist the knife and make you feel like shit. He couldn't make your sister suffer -- although I'm sure he would've loved to -- so he tried to make you suffer instead."

Reno snarled, deep and low, in his throat. "That filthy..." He stopped, unable to come up with a suitably vile epithet.

"Consider this. If he can conceive and carry out something this horrific on his own initiative, imagine what he's capable of doing now."

"But what the hell does he want? To become a fucking god or what?"

"Nothing that simple. Hojo seems to be more interested in creating a god than in becoming one himself. I don't know. Maybe it makes him feel superior to a mere god, the power behind the throne, so to speak," Cloud said with a shrug. "He's totally insane, so who knows what's the bastard's thinking."

"I got your point." Reno tapped his Nightstick thoughtfully on his shoulder, then added, "You know, in my line of work, I have encountered my own share of wackos, maybe even one or two with delusions of godhood." He glanced over his shoulder at Cloud. "But this is the first time I've run into someone who could possibly pull it off... or make one huge fucking mess while trying."

"Hojo's the worst, certainly, and the biggest danger at the moment. But remember this. He didn't do this alone. He had plenty of help. People who didn't just stand by, but who actively aided and abetted him in these atrocities. People who thought up and carried out experiments that were just as horrific, if not more so. And they're still out there. Hiding, maybe, but still out there."

In a low, intense voice, Cloud continued, "They're monsters who cause untold misery and suffering. They are the true enemy. Never forget that, Reno. No one and nothing is safe as long as Hojo and his kind exist. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes. THEY ALL HAVE TO DIE."

Reno stared at Cloud for a long moment. There was no mistaking the anger in the other man's voice. But while Cloud's earlier outburst had been a flash of hot rage, like a smouldering volcano teetering on the verge of eruption, this anger was totally different in its cold deliberate ferocity. It was an anger that was both deeply personal, but at the same time, chillingly detached.

"You really, really hate these guys, don't you?"

Cloud's lips curled into a feral little grin and said pleasantly, "Oh, you have NO idea how much I loathe Hojo and his kind. But don't feel bad. I've had a lot more practice at it than you have."

In a detached corner of his mind, Cloud was aware that he probably sounded like some sort of nutcase himself. But at the moment, he couldn't quite bring himself to care. It felt good to be able to be totally candid with someone for a change.

Reno wasn't stupid. Cloud was talking about cold-bloodedly hunting down and exterminating of not just Hojo, but Hojo's like-minded collegues.

Reno was cool with that.

"You are one ruthless son of a bitch." There was no hint of criticism in Reno's voice, only a mixture of mild surprise and wary respect.

Cloud's lips curled upward. For an instant, the glowing blue mako eyes and the brief flash of teeth exposed by the cold, wolfish grin made it seem as if a great predatory beast had materialized in the gruesome chamber.

"Thanks."

**--------------------------------------**

Strife felt the already damaged barrier weaken further. He pounded hard against it and felt a savage exultation as a few more cracks appeared and others widened.

Yes...

How long had he been trapped in this limbo? How long had it been since he had been forced to retreat to this refugue-now-prison, betrayed by the very person who owed him the most. Hadn't he coddled, protected, and humored the snivelling brat Cloud at every turn? But instead of gratitude for getting rid of Zack, the ungrateful little beast had stabbed him in the back.

HE had been the one to take the risks, who dared to turn thought and desire into action. And when he had done his best to save the moron from getting totally taken over by that asshole Zack, the pathetic whiner had turned on him, even tried to eradicate and utterly obliterate him...

And HE got called a selfish, murderous monster?

But he had managed to survive. He was a born survivor. Driven to the deepest, darkest recesses of a broken mind, it had taken him a long time to recover and regroup, to pull the scattered remnants of himself back together. But by the time he succeeded, he no longer had a way out. His hiding place had become a prison. And to add insult to injury, the obstacle blocking his way to freedom was the very thing he had tried to destroy.

Zack.

THAT has been the most galling part, to know that the miserable, boot-licking loser has chosen ZACK, of all people, over him!

But why should that surprise him? EVERYONE liked Zack better, even Sephiroth...

A chill touched him. No. He didn't want to deal with Sephiroth right now. Not before he was ready. The last thing he wanted to do right now was attract Sephiroth's attention. Not until he was free and could protect himself.

But how to get out? He had searched long and hard for a chink in the barrier that kept him sealed away for so long, that prevented him from taking what was rightfully his. He knew there had to be weak spots. The trick was to find them.

In the beginning he had found only few cracks, small and temporary. But recently, the barrier had weakened. He had suspected that it had something to do with that Jenova bitch coming back to life. The gaps had grown wider, giving him opportunities where he could slip out, however briefly.

But those measely slivers of stolen time weren't nearly enough. He wanted it all. He DESERVED it all. He didn't want to spend the rest of his existence trapped in some dark, obscure corner of Cloud's mind, ignored and forgotten.

The barrier that kept him from taking rightful control of Cloud's body had taken a hell of a hit when Jenova-CORE had reared her ugly head, but it had held. And despite all the damage, his continued assaults and now the steady erosion caused by Jenova-CORE's awakening, the barrier still remained strong.

But it was getting weaker. Unstable. Vulnerable to attack.

He had the perfect ammunition to bring down dear old Zack. Now it was simply a matter of finding the right opportunity.

He would be free again. And once free, he would take care of the final and most serious threat.

Sephiroth.

**--------------------------------------**


	15. Cloud Sephiroth fic drabble

**Type:** Final Fantasy VII - COI fic drabble

**Author:** lj user"madamhydra" 

**Rating:** PG

**Status:** rough draft 11/06/2005

**Summary:** Cloud and Sephiroth have an interesting conversation amid the birds.

--------------------------------------

Down in the bowels of the Highwind II, Sephiroth found the door he was looking for and pushed it open. Stepping inside, he was immediately confronted by several pairs of bright, inquisitive eyes.

"Wark?" chorused the chocobos.

With their total lack of fear, the flock of riding birds resembled a mob of curious young children. It was just a touch intimidating, but he shook off the feeling and glanced around the cargo hold which had been converted into a small, but comfortable stable for the birds.

"Wark?" Straw rustled as several of the chocobos sidled closer for a better look at the newcomer.

Sephiroth coolly returned their stares. He didn't have much experience with the birds, but even he could tell that every chocobo in this stable was of extraordinary quality. That was evident in the sleek, well-developed muscles, gleaming feathers, and confident body language.

Cloud stepped out from behind a large bird which bear particularly fine golden plumage.

"Were you looking for me?"

Stepping closer, Sephiroth eyed the chocobo and said, "I thought gold chocobos were pure myth."

Cloud grinned and scratched the bird on the breast. It uttered a surprisingly melodious 'kweh' and half-closed its eyes.

"That's not surprising. Everyone hears about them from time to time, but the rumors were usually just that -- rumors. Or if not, someone's usually cooking up some kind of scam."

"But gold chocobos are obviously not a myth, since you appear to have a whole flock of them."

The makeshift stable contained five of the golds, with the rest being black chocobos with glossy, almost opalescent feathers.

Cloud chuckled ruefully as he continued to scratch the large gold chocobo's neck.

"True, but it certainly wasn't easy getting these guys." He reached up and rubbed the underside of the chocobo's head and it hummed happily. "But they were certainly worth every bit of trouble. They got us to the places where we really needed to go. Isn't that right, Nikki?"

The chocobo squawked and bobbed its head enthusiastically.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Nikki?"

Bending down to retrieve a fallen towel, Cloud replied absently, "After a certain overly precocious brat that I know."

Sephiroth's expression did not change, but his mind was racing. He didn't know much about Cloud Strife's family except for the sparse dry details in Cloud's military records. However, he did know for certain that Zack had a young cousin named Nikolas, nicknamed 'Nikki'. Zack had even talked about his "overly precocious brat" of a nephew with that same exact same tone of rueful amusement.

In the meantime, Cloud had located the errant item. Straightening up, he said, "But I'm sure you didn't come down here to chat about chocobos. What's up?"

Sephiroth said, "We've received the preliminary reports from the search teams Reeve sent out."

"They find anything?" Cloud said, his voice turning grim.

"A great deal of environmental damage, the remains of numerous unidentified monsters, but nothing that looks like Hojo or Jenova." Sephiroth gave Cloud a cool, level stare. "But we expected that. While Hojo's fate is uncertain, we both know that Jenova definitely survived that blast."

Of course they both knew. They could still sense its tainted presence, resonating in their flesh, scrabbling at the edges of their minds. The signs were faint and untraceable, but there could be no mistake. Jenova still lived.

"And what about Sapphire WEAPON?"

"According to Reeve, the search teams found what appears to be several large tentacles and possibly part of its tail floating off the coastline. I should say, off the -new- coastline, since a hefty chunk of the old coastline appears to be missing."

Cloud hissed softly. "Damn. I was afraid of that."

"Of what? Not finding the rest of the WEAPON, or the massive crater on the northern edge of the Western continent?"

"The crater. Red said something like this could happen."

"Care to elaborate on the subject?"

"The Planet views JENOVA as a serious threat, and it's prepared to do whatever it takes to get rid of that threat."

"Even if that means destroying large portions of itself in the process?"

Cloud exhaled slowly. "Yeah. The problem is -- for us, anyway -- is that the Planet doesn't care if a few inconsequential species happen to go extinct in the process."

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "So, you're basically saying that the Planet doesn't care if humanity, as a species, survives or not."

"That's right. As long as the Planet itself survives, as long as its ability to create and support life survives, the fate of individual species is pretty much irrelevent."

"Well, that certainly puts humanity firmly in its proper place."

As Cloud made an irritated noise, Sephiroth continued coolly, "It's a legitimate observation. The Planet, it seems, does not play favorites. To the Planet, humans are just another species of living organism, with no greater merit or right to survive than any other type of organism living upon it."

"Maybe, but humans are different, because we can affect our surroundings in ways that most organisms can't. And we can do it proactively, instead of merely hunkering down and hoping to adapt to whatever happens."

"Your point being that if the Planet doesn't care if humanity survives or not, then it's up to humanity to protect itself."

Cloud gave Sephiroth a level stare, and said quietly, "I'm not just talking about humanity. Humans aren't the only ones in danger if the Planet and Jenova get locked into an extended war. There are a lot of other living creatures at risk." He reached up and gently stroked the chocobo's soft golden neck feathers.

"And the best way to ensure the survival of the world, as we know it, is to find Jenova and destroy it before the Planet resorts to truly drastic measures to protect itself."

"But it's rather understandable why the Planet might feel it necessary, given that Jenova is a devourer of worlds." Sephiroth said softly.

Cloud jerked his head up to give Sephiroth a hard, narrow-eyed stare.

"It seems that your memory isn't quite as spotty as you said."

Sephiroth shrugged noncommitally. "A few things are gradually coming back to me."

"I see." Cloud resumed running his hands over the bird's feathers, checking for any problems underneath.

"You aren't going to ask for more details?"

Cloud shrugged. "What would be the point? You'll tell us when and if you're ready, and not a moment sooner." He added, rather pensively, "You've always been that way."

That had one of the things he had liked the most about Zack -- his ability to accept that there were some things about him that were difficult, if not impossible, to change and not waste energy on futile arguments about them.

"After all, it's not like I can -force- you to do anything," Cloud continued in that same thoughtful, slightly absent tone.

...but I can certainly force YOU...

The insidious thought bubbled up from the depths of Sephiroth's mind like a wisp of noxious vapor rising from a swamp.

For an instant he froze, appalled at how easily the idea, the mere concept, popped into his head.

Most people would have missed that briefest hitch in Sephiroth's breathing. But Cloud was not most people... or perhaps it was the odd chill he felt, like a cold finger running down his spine. Regardless of the cause, he immediately peered out from behind Nikki and gave Sephiroth a puzzled look.

"What?"

Sephiroth met Cloud's glowing blue gaze levelly and said, "Nothing."

After a pause, Sephiroth murmured, "That's very understanding of you, but it's likely that your friends won't see it that way."

"Most of them will. But you're right. Some of them won't."

"Meaning Lockheart and Barrett."

This time, Cloud did sigh aloud. "Yeah." A slight nudge from the chocobo reminded Cloud to keep up the back rub and he obliged. "Tifa hates you. She has plenty of reasons."

Sephiroth cocked his head slightly.

"And you don't?"

Cloud gave him another quick sharp look.

"You haven't been told me the specifics of what happened during the six years after the Nibelheim mission. But judging from everyone's reactions, I can make some fairly shrewd guesses. You probably have plenty of reasons to hate me. Do you?"

Cloud said nothing for a moment, then said, almost wearily, "Hate you? Sometimes, I don't know." After a long pause, he added in a much firmer tone, "But I'm not going to let my personal feelings interfere with protecting the people I care about."

Sephiroth tipped his head just a fraction and said, "A sensible point of view. But Lockheart's not so pragmatic, is she?"

"No, she sometimes has problems putting her emotions aside," Cloud said quietly, and left it at that.

After a few minutes of silence, broken only by the rustle of straw and the soft kwehing of contented birds, Cloud said, "We have to stop Hojo and Jenova. No matter what it takes."

"I despise those two just as much as you do, if not more."

"I know that. Which is why I'm prepared to work together with you. Because this time, I have the nasty feeling we're going to need all the help we can get."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is that it?"

"Or temporary ally, at least."

Sephiroth's lips curled up in a faint smirk. "I'm sure Lockhart simply loves that idea."

"Yeah, well we all end up having to do things we don't like, don't we?" Cloud said stoically.

Silence fell again, then Sephiroth quietly said, "Is this present world we live in really worth fighting for? Is the idea of change that abhorrent?"

Cloud said nothing for while, then replied mediatively, "I'm not against change in principle. There's nothing inherently wrong with change. Nothing stays the same forever, right?" He suddenly shot Sephiroth a fierce stare.

"But the idea of getting wiped out of existance because some fucking space alien crashlands on my home planet and gets an attack of the munchies really, REALLY pisses me off!"

Sephiroth stared at him for a second, then burst into laughter. He couldn't help it. It was the sort of honest, eye-watering full-bodied laugh that he almost never indulged in. And on the very rare occasions he did, Zack was always the culprit.

He suspected that this time was no exception.

His laughter gradually subsided into muffled chuckles as Sephiroth sank down onto an pile of hay bales.

Slightly breathless, he waved his hand at Cloud, who giving him a look of half-annoyance and half-... indulgence?... then hastily said, "No, no. I wasn't laughing at you. It's just that that is one sentiment that I have no problem understanding."

Cloud snorted, and taking Sephiroth's unexpected bout of hilarity amazingly in stride, leaned against Nikki with a look of mild exasperation as he waited for the other man to recover his composure.

But their moods quickly sombered as they returned their attention to the current unsettled situation.

"So you're proposing an alliance of convenience, with Jenova and Hojo as our mutual enemies," Sephiroth said coolly.

"That's right." After a brief pause, Cloud continued, "You're not the sort who can be intimidated into a course of action. And I know you won't tolerate being locked up."

This time it was Sephiroth's turn for a hard, narrow-eyed stare.

"Which basically leaves two options. One, we can kill you. Again." Cloud's expression was stony, his voice flat. "Or two, we can trust you. And of those two options, I really don't think we can afford the first, not with Hojo, Jenova, and the WEAPONS all running around amok."

The first option was no bluff or hollow threat. Together, Cloud and his friends could almost certainly kill him. They were that good. But it would cost them dearly in precious time, energy, and possibly even lives.

Sephiroth said dispassionately, "You're probably right. You surely don't expect me to lie down and allow myself to be conveniently slaughtered."

Cloud's expression somehow managed to harden even more.

"No, I don't. You couldn't do that. Even if you wanted to."

After the briefest pause, Sephiroth spoke, his voice sharper than Masamune's edge.

"... Did Zack tell you that interesting fact?"

Cloud's response was just as sharp, with a definite hint of ice. "You know better than that."

The two men stared at each other, but it was Sephiroth who looked away first, twitching a shoulder in a shrug that might be considered an apology.

Cloud gave him a twisted little smile. "No, I found out about that little biological quirk by myself. During my time in Nibelheim. A SOLDIER's body doesn't die easily, does it? And especially not by its own hand."

No, it didn't. A SOLDIER's mind could break, yielding to madness or suicidal despair, but a SOLDIER's body did not surrender meekly to death. It clung to life with an intensity that few could understand. Something in a SOLDIER's creation, perhaps the infusion of Jenova cells, heightened a human's already well developed survival instinct to the point of near-compulsion. And the more powerful and heavily modified the SOLDIER, the more intense the instincts to live at all costs.

A disciplined mind could override that instinct for self-preservation, allowing the SOLDIER to knowingly confront danger and possible death... unless the body's desire to survive was so strong that it couldn't be entirely controlled, no matter how hard one tried.

For Sephiroth -- and for Cloud, it seemed -- suicide was not a viable option. It was that very reason that he had asked for Zack's promise, and why Zack had been willing to give it.

Sephiroth nodded in brief acknowledgement.

"So that leaves option number two," Cloud said.

"Trust me?" Sephiroth said with scornful amusement. "And how likely is that?"

"In certain ways, more likely than you think."

Sephiroth raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I think that it's reasonable to trust in your tactical judgment, your analytical abilities, and your fighting skills. And trust in your desire to stop Hojo and Jenova from carrying out their sick schemes, whatever they are. As for the rest..." Cloud shrugged noncommitally.

"Fair enough."

Actually, all things considered, it was more than Sephiroth expected.

"I've already discussed this with the others. Most of them agree with me."

Sephiroth's lip curled slightly. "I can guess who didn't agree."

"Not at first. But since we're rather short on alternatives, Tifa and Barrett are willing to give it a try."

"Fine, as long as they don't actively interfere with me."

After watching Cloud carefully examining the chocobo's wing feathers for a few minutes, Sephiroth said, "Don't chocobos usually groom themselves?"

"Yes, but just because you can do something for yourself..."

"...doesn't always mean you have to do it for yourself. Yes, I know."

The brief exchange stirred Sephiroth's memories of similar conversations with Zack. One would reasonably assume that Zack, one of the most independent, self-sufficient people Sephiroth knew, would be very reluctant to depend or rely upon others. Zack, however, didn't seem to have a problem with it. He wasn't indiscriminate with his trust, of course, but his ability to judge people meant that he was rarely disappointed.

In fact, Zack's worst mistake in judgment was sitting right here on a haybale amid a flock of chocobos.

To Sephiroth, a stable full of birds had seemed like an incongruous place to have such a serious conversation, but when he thought about it, there was something soothing about the chocobos' presence. It just seemed easier to speak candidly. Or perhaps it was simply relief at being able to get away from Lockheart's neverending hostility and suspicion.

Cloud gave Nikki one last pat before stepping out of the stall.

"So we don't have a clue where Jenova or Hojo are now." He made a frustrated noise. "No, of course it wouldn't that easy."

"What did you expect? A pointed arrow and a sign saying 'Hojo, 300 miles that-a-way'?" Sephiroth said drily.

"One can always hope, right?" Cloud retorted with a wry grin.

As they both turned to leave the Highwind II's makeshift chocobo stable, Sephiroth said, "Hojo and Jenova are too cunning to be so easily found. If we had a better idea what they were up to, we might be able to better deduce where... ack!"

Startled, Cloud quickly turned to see what could possibly make Sephiroth yelp like that.

Cloud's gold chocobo Nikki blinked innocently at them, its beak firmly clamped on a mouthful of Sephiroth's long silver hair.

Sephiroth glared at the bird, then attempted to free the trapped hair with a firm tug, but without success.

"You idiot bird, let go!" Sephiroth muttered between gritted teeth.

Even with its beak full, Nikki somehow managed to utter a chocobo chortle.

No, he wasn't asinine enough to get caught up in a game of Whack-a-Chocobo. That sort of idiocy was a drunken fool's game, even with common birds. Against a gold chocobo of Nikki's obvious quality, Sephiroth -knew- he would lose.

Behind him, Sephiroth could hear stifled noises which told him that Cloud was trying hard not to laugh.

Turning awkwardly, Sephiroth glowered at Cloud and said, "I'm -so- glad you think this is funny. It's YOUR damn bird. Do -something- before I decide to have broiled poultry for lunch."

Nikki snorted audibly at this obvious bluff.

Sephiroth tugged again. Nikki playfully tugged back.

"Well, if you want my damn hair that much..."

Thoroughly exasperated, Sephiroth reached out and yanked the combat knife from Cloud's belt. He lifted the blade, but before he could slice his hair free, Cloud caught his arm and said hastily, "You don't need to do that. All Nikki wants is a little attention from you."

Sephiroth stared balefully at the other man.

"Try petting him," Cloud added, who was trying very hard to remain straight-faced and mostly succeeding. But there was a suspicious twitch at the corner of his mouth...

At that moment, Sephiroth could have done a lot of things, ranging from non-lethal to downright deadly. But the sight of a familiar mischievous gleam in Cloud's eyes and the echo of an equally familiar tone of playful humor in the other man's voice made Sephiroth give in, however ungraciously.

He did put up a token protest.

"Why is it that cats, birds, little children, teenaged girls, and other dumb creatures have this absurd fascination with my hair?" he snarled.

Nikki the chocobo snorted at the insult to its intelligence, but didn't let go.

So it was that when Yuffie peeked into the cargo hold, she found a mildly disgruntled Sephiroth standing with Cloud's chocobo leaning heavily against him, its neck propped on his shoulder and eyes closed in smug contentment as Sephiroth gave the chocobo a nice, thorough neck and chest scratch. Nearby, perched relaxedly on a pile of crates, Cloud watched the scene with an amused grin while making some comment about the notorious fickleness of female chocobos.

Sephiroth broke off his conversation with Cloud, turned to the bird and muttered, "NOW are you satisfied? You're going to become as spoiled as your namesake."

The chocobo finally released its clamp on Sephiroth's long hair and warbled happily.

Peering around the door frame, Yuffie forgot about her roiling stomach and giggled.

When he heard her, Sephiroth twitched and flushed slightly, obviously embarrassed to be caught doing something as silly as petting and talking to an oversized bird.

He brusquely pushed Nikki's head off his shoulder and stalked out of the cargo hold with as much dignity as he could muster, which wasn't much considering he had chocobo fluff all over his black jacket and bird drool on his hair.

--------------------------------------


	16. Author Note

**Author's Note - 03/31/2007**

Yes, I am actively working on "Conflicts of Interest" and there are several brand new snippets and side-stories. Unfortunately, due to the ridiculous amount of technical problems I've been having in trying to post to FF-net, I am no longer updating the stories on this site.

So if you're interested in reading my newest COI-related works, you can find them on my LiveJournal:

madamhydra(dot)livejournal(dot)com

(just use replace (dot) with periods -- sorry, but FF-net absolutely refuses to let me post anything resembling a URL) 

You can also find me by searching my LJ username -- madamhydra.

So drop in and take a look around!


	17. Conflicts of Interest Redux

"Conflicts of Interest" is no longer being worked on.

Instead, it has been undergone a MASSIVE rewrite and is now titled "Conflicts of Interest Redux", which incorporates much of the new "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" material which didn't exist when I started the original "Conflicts of Interest".

You can find COI Redux here at Fanfiction(dot)net.

You can also find it at: madamhydra(dot)livejournal(dot)com

For readers of the original COI, I hope you find this post-Advent Children version at least as interesting as the original. Hopefully, at least my writing skills have improved from the passage of nearly a decade. ^_^;

To any new readers, I bid you welcome.


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